WYEP's Rock the Block

Brazilian Girls/Willie Nile/The Boogie Hustlers

WYEP Community Broadcast Center, Pittsburgh, PA

After a similar fundraiser last year while still constructing our building was successful, we decided to do it again. We blocked off the street in front of the WYEP Community Broadcast Center, set up a stage and put the Brazilian Girls and the Boogie Hustlers there, plus had a V.I.P. event inside with Willie Nile.

Rancid

Club Zoo, Pittsburgh, PA

I hadn't seen Rancid since a late '90s Warped Tour or at least since the 1997 Tibetan Freedom Concert, and I'd never seen a full, headlining show by the band. Plus, I'd never been to the venue formerly known as Metropol, although I'd heard much about it (mostly negative), so it was going to be doubtless interesting.

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Betsy, Ned, Steve, and I arrived to see the first (local) opener. Betsy and I were also interested in seeing if we'd get in with our "tickets"--Betsy came to the club to buy tickets and they gave her a copy of the club owner's business card, hand scrawled with "Rancid - admit one." This seemed a bit dodgy, so I emailed the guy who actually books the shows (an acquaintance) and he said it was okay. And, indeed, we got in with no problem. The bouncers didn't even bat an eye when they took our "tickets."

We saw the first band, Weekend Warriors (enjoyable but forgettable), but we were in a bit of a bind by the end of their set. Club Zoo, we discovered, didn't have a liquor license and at their three bars only served a "wide" selection of water, "energy drinks," and iced tea. Fortunately, the bouncers at the door would wristband you so you could leave and come back. So we decided to skip the other opener (The Explosion) and get some refreshment.

We had seen carloads of people out on Smallman Street openly tailgating before the show, and now we knew why. We went over to Primanti Brothers to grabs some beers and found the place packed with other people with Club Zoo wristbands.

We got back during the changeover before Rancid, and the band finally came out and started their set. They came out swinging, playing "Roots Radicals," and then jumped into "Journey to the End of the East Bay" and "Time Bomb."

Set highlights include "Ruby Soho," "Salvation," "Tenderloin," "Olympia WA," and "Radio."

Also performed was "7 Years Down," "Hoover Street," "Rats In The Hallway," "Rejected," "Dead Bodies," "Django," and "Nihilism."

They did an acoustic set for an encore, doing a terrific cover of Billy Bragg's "To Have And To Have Not" (previously recorded by Lars via his Lars Frederiksen & The Bastards side project).

• fan review of the show