Words by Olly MacNamee
It has been far too long since NOFX brought their Punk-Rock cavalcade into town, but with two dates this weekend at the O2 Academy (B’ham), Sat 27th and Sun 28th June, they’re making up for their much lamented Birmingham absence.
Touring with both Alkaline Trio and Lagwagon, NOFX have lined up two different sets for their O2 Academy weekend – seeing them play their seminal Punk in Drublic album in its entirety at the Sunday night show. A welcome choice no doubt, given this raucous and rowdy album has been NOFX’s most commercially successful to date, garnering their one and only gold record by 2000.
But also given that NOFX are their own bosses, recording and releasing through Fat Mike’s own Fat Wreck Chords label, I don’t think they’re in it too much for the accolades.
NOFX seem more in it for the party, often encouraging their fans to join in too; which usually means being comically lubricated, and equally jovial with one another on-stage as they are with the audience. So come prepared.
Also on the bill are NOFX stable mates, the mighty Lagwagon, alongside Illinois’s Alkaline Trio – collectively producing a Punk/Rock line-up that’s going to be hard to beat any time soon.
With ten albums behind them, Lagwagon have an impressive back catalogue to call upon, and like NOFX ignored the lure of major record labels back in the 90’s. When bands like Green Day (and Punk/Rock in general) enjoyed some more mainstream attention, Lagwagon chose Fat Wreck Chords to call their home – itself an off shoot from Brett Gurewitz’s Epitaph Records, who signed Alkaline Trio.
So this coming weekend at the O2 Academy seems to be a family affair of sorts, with our Brummie audience of nieces and nephews coming out to see their cool uncles from out of town. But be warned, if you are coming to this Punk/Rock knees up you may want to snap up a ticket sooner rather than later.
At the time of writing, the Sat 27th June show has already sold out – something that, in a Punk/Rock career spanning over three decades, cannot be said about any of the three bands on the O2 Academy‘s weekend line up.
NOFX come to the O2 Academy on Sat 27th & Sun 28th June – with support from Alkaline Trio + Lagwagon. For further gig info & tickets, visit http://www.o2academybirmingham.co.uk/event/75692/nofx-and-alkaline-trio-tickets
For more on NOFX, visit http://www.nofxofficialwebsite.com/
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For more on Alkaline Trio, visit http://alkalinetrio.com/
For more on Lagwagan, visit http://lagwagon.com/
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For further listings from the O2 Academy (B‘ham), visit http://www.o2academybirmingham.co.uk/
