Images: MxPx 20th Anniversay show with Set Your Goals, Mest, Rufio June 29, 2012 at House of Blues Anaheim

Never one to miss a good anniversary tour, I took a Punks in Vegas field trip June 29 to celebrate 20 years with MxPx at the House of Blues in Anaheim.

Opening the show were Rufio, Mest and Set Your Goals. Rufio had a large group of fans obviously there just to see the pop punk heroes. Mest played to the crowd with their hits, which incited more than a few sing-a-longs, and Set Your Goals’ set was great, though cut short by the fact that their 30+ hour drive to the venue made them a bit late.

MxPx took the stage to The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” and quickly went into Panic favorite “Heard That Sound.” Being that they were celebrating 20 years as a band, their setlist was awesomely diverse. The full band played for about an hour, and then frontman Mike Herrera played a few acoustic songs, ending with a cover of Rancid’s “Olympia, WA.” The full band returned on stage for 3 more songs including another cover, The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” and ended the night with “Punk Rawk Show.” All in all, it was a pretty fantastic night, and I’m glad MxPx still has this kind of energy and enthusiasm to go out and play for their fans.

-Tyler Newton | http://500px.com/spottedlens