Images: Adolescents, Youth Brigade, The Vermin January 20, 2012 at the Las Vegas Country Saloon

On January 20^th, the Las Vegas Country Saloon got back to doing punk shows with a power bill of seminal punk rock bands – California’s Adolescents and Youth Brigade along with locals The Vermin. I’m fairly certain Fremont Street hadn’t seen this many old punks sporting mohawks, studs and back patches, since last year’s Punk Rock Bowling, and it was great to see.

The night began with Vegas punk stalwarts The Vermin, whose set was unusually long for an opener, but with their track-record, it’s no mystery why they were given the extra time. The long-running band had more-than-enough of their classic mix of fast punk and raunchy comedy to fill the slot. (Insert inevitable “fill the slot” joke here).

Youth Brigade was up next, taking the stage to a crowd that had already tripled in size. The Los Angeles natives have spent the majority of their career dividing their time between touring with the band and managing BYO Records, which puts on the annual Punk Rock Bowling Music Festival here. As such, they’ve never quite found the larger following they definitely deserve. Taking a break from the business side, Shawn Stern and co can still rock with the best of them. Though Stern voiced disappointment that a barrier separated him from the crowd, that didn’t stop one fan from hopping up and sharing the mic while the rest of the crowd belted out lyrics from the pit.

Adolescents closed out the show, not surprisingly on the receiving-end of the biggest reaction of the night. Like Youth Brigade, the Fullerton, CA punks are no strangers to Vegas, and guitarist Steve Soto makes our town a frequent stop for his various side projects. Vocalist Tony Cadena was the only frontman of the night unencumbered by a musical instrument, and he chose to spend most of his time as close to the crowd as the small barrier would allow. The circle pit never stopped, and it only intensified when tracks from the band’s influential Blue Album were played.

-Emily Matview | https://www.flickr.com/photos/holdfastnow/