MxPx and The Ataris have been on the pop-punk scene for as long as I can remember. A noticeably older crowd filled the East Brunswick Club on this freezing cold Melbourne night, but they were as passionate as any crowd of fifteen-year old fan kids I've ever seen.
Opening with The Ataris (featuring MxPx's Mike Herrera on bass) frontman Kris Roe led straight into "Takeoffs and Landings" to an already amped-up crowd. Following with favourites like "Summer Wind Was Always Our Song" and "In This Diary", it was instantly clear why this band has lasted so long. Whilst I've never been a die-hard fan, the Ataris certainly impressed, and it's always incredible seeing bands who've been around so long still playing brilliantly. After crowd-pleaser "Your Boyfriend Sucks", Kris Roe played a few of his own acoustic tracks, before asking for requests. Despite many screams of "BOYS OF SUMMER!" the band dissapointingly didn't play their awesome cover version. Although, after "IOU One Galaxy", they blasted through a rockin' cover of Descendents'"Coolidge", which the crowd loved.
Whilst the Ataris were incredible, it was clear a large part of the crowd was here for the main purpose of seeing pop-punk heroes MxPx. After an anxious wait, the band came out and broke straight into killer performances of "Secret Weapon" and "My Life Story", followed by "Tomorrow is Another Day" which had the crowd jumping like crazy.
The band then slowed down the pace with the beautiful acoustic "Quit Your Life", leading into a few Tumbledown (Mike Herrera's side project) songs, which were impressive. When they finally broke into fan favourite "Chick Magnet", the whole venue was littered with jumping, moshing, and everyone basically having a good time. Stopping in the middle of the song, Mike Herrera got the crowd to sing "Happy Birthday" to the band's stage manager. The crowd still crazy as they left, MxPx returned for an incredibly rockin' encore of "Responsibility". While most of the crowd was well past their teenage years, defiance still flowed with every chorus singalong of "I'm still young, and I'd like to stay that way!"
In all, a fun, energetic set from two of the oldest pop-punk bands in the business.
8/10
