A Step Back in Time Part 3: Bad Religion

It's over 4 years on from this gig and I still cant believe how lucky I am to be in the position to say "I saw Bad Religion at the Academy 2." Now This might not mean a lot to most people, but to me it is still difficult to comprehend.

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Bad religion are a legendary punk band, there is no other way to describe them. They have been cranking out material since 1980 and boast and impressive back catalogue of classic punk rock albums. They have also toured the world over and inspired a countless number of other bands.

Founding member Brett Gurewitz is owner of one of the most successful independent record labels of all time which has an impressive CV of releases including the Offspring's Smash, which is the biggest selling independently released album of all time. Their 1988 album Suffer (which I'm listening to as I write this!) is often regarded as one of the most important punk rock releases ever.

So, you can start to understand why I was so excited to see they had announced an intimate UK tour stopping off at Birmingham.

Without even consulting anyone else about the possibility of going, I ordered 2 tickets knowing that the other one would be snapped up. Sure enough, my mate Ad claimed the extra ticket and rather than a simple cash-for-ticket exchange, I managed to claim his new pair of his trainers that I had my eye on. A fair trade I think!

After months of agonising waiting, the gig finally rolled around. There was a small part of me that was thinking surely after all the waiting and hype, this has to be a let down?

Not a chance! Bad Religion were immense. They powered through classic after classic, jumping around with all the energy of a bunch of 20 somethings. It was easy to see they were feeding off the energy from the crowd and it I could tell straight away that this band was born and made in the small clubs of the Southern California.

We managed to force our way right to the front and I remember standing there watching this display of flawless punk rock musicianship and thinking, this is how to play a show.

That night, just like many others, Bad Religion showed the youngsters how it is done and I still feel unbelievably lucky to have witnessed such a trailblazing band back in the clubs where they started.