Tiger Army and Social Distortion live review from Portland.

Crystal Ballroom in Portland, OR 11/13/04
Social D, TIger Army, The Explosion

Thanks go out to the Crystal Ballroom security and staff who were successful in making me miss the entire set played by The Explosion. From what I could hear on 13th & Burnside, the crowd seemed to enjoy them, but music turns into a jumbled mess when standing that far away from the source.

Once I made it in the door Tiger Army was up. They have changed the lineup around recently, adding Jeff Roffredo (formerly of Cosmic Voodoo) at upright bass and James Meza (formerly of Nekromantix) on drums to compliment the guitar and vocal stylings of Nick 13. The set was nothing sort of solid. Roffredo is amazing to watch playing upright bass, and Nick 13's voice has angst and melody like none other. Many new tracks from the album "III: Ghost Tigers Rise" were played, including "Atomic," which is featured on Hellcat Record's "Give 'em the Boot IV" compilation, along with several classics, such as "Never Die!" and "True Romance."

In true punk rock style, members of both Tiger Army and The Explosion came out from backstage and stood with the crowd as Social Distortion came on to the stage. Still promoting thier latest CD, "Sex, Love, and Rock and Roll," Social D sound just as good now - if not better - than they did when they first came on to the scene twenty five years ago.

Fronted by Mike Ness - the only man who ever has or will sing for Social Distortion - the group played a set lasting more than one hour and playing countless tracks spanning several sectors of their career - as new as "Reach for the Sky" and as old as "Mommy's Little Monster." This show was one of the greatest high-profile shows that I have been to in a long time. It is encouraging to see a band as successful as Social Distortion play with everything that they have to offer for such a long period of time night after night. A true model band, supported by future psychobilly/punk kings Tiger Army and The Explosion.

By Alex Cook
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