When thinking about the faces of old school US punk a ton of names come to mind such as The Ramones, Misfits, and Bad Brains. The Los Angeles legends Circle Jerks are constantly mentioned in this conversation as well, especially as they’re one of the first bands to break out in the LA punk scene. After all these years, the band has continued to cement itself into relevancy as they’ve consistently toured and shared an immense passion for punk and music overall with their fans and other bands. Consequently, as hardcore is experiencing its own renaissance with bands such as Turnstile, Scowl, and Knocked Loose reaching all time highs in the genre all while playing sets at a major music festivals, performing at late night talk shows, and overall just ushering in a new generation of fans. A lot of these bands continue to cite Circle Jerks as an influence to them. In celebration of front man Keith Morris’s 70th birthday, the LA legends decided to throw a one night only special concert with support from Negative Approach, Rocket From The Crypt, and Ceremony (including a surprise visit from L7 front woman Donita Sparks during Ceremony’s set). While numerous, each band were absolute powerhouses during their respective sets and successfully managed to get a strong rile from the crowd as the mosh pits that erupted were almost instantaneous. Each band threw their own musical energy to the crowd that only a punk rock band knows how. 
By the time the headlining act made it up on stage, the audience roared in excitement and sang Happy Birthday to Morris in celebration for his 70th birthday as they geared up to play yet another legendary set. Through each power chord, the band had this immense aura around them as guitarist Greg Hetson, bassist Zander Schloss, and drummer Joey Castillo go ham on their instruments and deliver each note with sheer power and speed. As they keep playing, fans can be seen crowd surfing throughout the venue and everyone is having the time of their lives. The entire set was a greatest hits set with songs ranging from “Beverly Hills”, “Wild In The Streets”, and “I, I, and I”. Along with being able to blow candles from a cake on stage, fans were also greeted with a surprise set of Black Flag songs that were written by Morris during his tenure as the founding vocalist of the band consisting of “Depression”, “Fix Me”, “Revenge”, and “Nervous Breakdown”. As they ended their night with “Question Authority”, Morris’s joy was even more apparent as he saw fans of all age ranges dance along to his music spanning different decades and having a great time overall.
Although the show at Hollywood Palladium ended with a bang, the band will be continuing to tour as their love for performing live music spans further than a one night celebration set in Los Angeles. If you want to indulge in some visuals from the night, check our exclusive photo gallery below featuring all of the bands on the card. Lastly, to stay up to date on the Circle Jerks, make sure to follow the band on Instagram @CircleJerksBand.
Article & Photos By Hector Mendoza (@mendoza_photos)
