NOFX

At the Commodore Ballroom on Friday, May 9

There comes a point in all musicians’ careers when they realize that they’ll probably be playing the same style of music for the rest of their lives. Unless you’re David Bowie or Madonna, doing a complete 180 every album by tackling the latest genre will make you look like a douchebag.

San Francisco punkers NOFX know this all too well; the quartet has been rehashing sardonic skate-punk tunes since the ’80s. And the group’s fans are evidently happy that things haven’t changed—many in the crowd at a sold-out Commodore show last Friday sported NOFX shirts emblazoned with the slogan “Recycling the same music for 25 years”.

Decked out in a basketball jersey and plaid board shorts, spiky-haired bassist Fat Mike stepped on-stage at about 11:15 p.m. and told the audience it was awesome to still be punk after all these years. “We’re not weird, we’re stoked,” he claimed, before calling out those who left the cause long ago: “Everybody else is lame!” Kicking off the night with the furious, trilled-out guitar licks of “Dinosaurs Will Die”, NOFX spent the next 90 minutes ripping through its enormous back catalogue.

Playing the band’s first non–Warped Tour Vancouver gig since 1996, Fat Mike, clutching a vodka, was clearly pumped to be with the loud, lager-pounding crowd. “I don’t want to see any 15-year-olds,” he sneered before the 30-second ageist anthem “Fuck the Kids”.

After speeding through the classic “Soul Doubt”, featuring some serious Telecaster wailing courtesy of lead guitarist El Hefe, NOFX slowed things down for one of the show’s many reggae numbers. Though it bobbed along on Eric Melvin’s wah-wah guitar, “Eat the Meek” mostly showcased El Hefe’s mariachi-influenced trumpeting and smooth vocals. Fat Mike then whipped the crowd into a frenzy by introducing a rare performance of “The Decline”, the band’s epic punk-rock opera. “If you don’t know it,” he told the salivating throng, “you’ll be bummed for the next 18 minutes.”

NOFX followed the highlight of the evening with a reggaefied cover of Rancid’s “Radio” and “The Brews”, an oi-boy anthem that had the meatheaded moshers tossing their togs on-stage. An encore of “Don’t Call Me White” found the inebriated foursome facing a barrage of beer cups, forcing the group to miss a few cues during the punchy punk rager. After an ultra-brief “I Wanna Be an Alcoholic”, NOFX grabbed their towels and beers, and left the crowd wanting more.