On Saturday night, November 19, I attended one of the last U.S. shows of Suicidal Tendencies‘ 2016 tour at the Ventura Theater. After the stunning impression I got from their performance in Fresno, I felt the need to see them one last time before they travel overseas.
One of the big differences with the Ventura gig was the size of the theater. The Fresno show took place in a small venue called Strummer’s, very up-close-and-personal with the band and just the right amount of space for a pit. At the Ventura Theater, it was divided into three sectors: The main floor, the mid-section seats and a balcony area.
As soon as I walked in, I noticed there was enough room for the biggest pit I had yet to see. I patiently waited for the opening band, Good Riddance to come on and once they did, I got my first taste of the atmosphere. Everything had been set in motion as the group delivered with high energy and catchy material.
The crowd had loosened up and the climax was still to come. We knew it would happen any second and when the lights came down, the audience roared louder than the guitar intro being played. Suicidal rushed the stage and the place exploded while they rang into You Can’t Bring Down. The pit quickly reached its tipping point and I realized just how crowded it had gotten. There was a standstill, because too many people had underestimated the amount of space they really had to make a free-flowing pit. But soon enough, the circulation got adjusted and everyone was slamming into each other from every angle.
Suicidal continued their set with heavy hitters such as Institutionalized and Trip At The Brain, leaving the crowd exhausted and out of breath from screaming every word. One of the most memorable things from that show and any Suicidal performance were the motivational statements made by vocalist Mike Muir in between songs. It speaks to anyone in the audience who needs it and it’s something useful to take away from the concert.
After about a half hour, Muir announced that the band had been inducted into the Skateboarding Hall Of Fame and as a celebration, they invited everyone to climb onto the stage and stand among the musicians. Suddenly, an entire horde of people were shoulder-to-shoulder on-stage, all fired up and cheering. Right then, Suicidal broke out into Possessed To Skate and those on-stage began moshing around Dave Lombardo’s drum kit. I just stood there with my mouth open in amazement.
Another major highlight from that night was in the middle of Cyco Vision when the song slowed down a bit, I saw all the people in the pit start to wind down as well and it reminded me how many shirts from different bands I had seen at the concert. There’s the ones that show up in their completely covered battle jackets, while others are sporting shirts of different genres from thrash to punk to death metal. Some get too hot wearing their Exodus hoodies and show off their Napalm Death shirts. This was a little moment I had that gave me a true sense of community between me and everyone else who came to thrash with Suicidal.
To end on a high note, the band closed their set with a track from their recent release World Gone Mad called Living For Life. I was glad it was the closer, because it’s one of Lombardo’s crowning moments on the new album with badass drum fills.
Once Suicidal left together, I chatted with a few people in the crowd after the show who were still whiplashed. Everyone was more than happy to talk about their jacket patches, music etc. It wasn’t a traditional event to come and go to, the theater became a place to hangout and many were still playing the show over in their head including myself.
In conclusion, this year has been an overwhelming experience for concert trips and despite seeing Black Sabbath live in February, I can say without a doubt that Suicidal delivered their performance just as well.
ST For Life!
Credit to: Kanon Madness for the on-stage video
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