Words – Clare
Photos – Mitch
40 years, 40 cities, 40 songs. NOFX had come to perform in Australia for the last time ever on their final tour and Everyday Metal was honored to attend and experience this monumental event.
To start the evening off was Something Something Explosion, a punk rock trio from Ocean Grove in Victoria. Although this band just finished their new album the set had crazy 90’s vibes and was totally getting my palette ready for the tasty nostalgic hit to come. Tracks included Gasoline, Burn it Down, Disappointment, and a very peppy cover of Bad Reputation.
Bodyjar took the stage to time-warp us back to the carefree days of the 1990’s. Cameron leaned into the mic ‘Wanna hear some old fart shit?’. They entertained us all in a tight set that included Remote Controller, Get Out of My Head, One in a Million, Not the Same, and A Hazy Shade of Winter where they were joined on stage by their original bassist.
The whole NOFX evening had real community vibes, starting with the bare bones community center styles of Festival Hall, the undressed stage adorned only with the rainbow flag and a dinky little postage stamp-sized band banner (classic NOFX), combined with the masses of fans that filled the venue from the crowd in the stands singing along with every track, the punks in the mosh pit thrashing around and the mob of followers and crew members that joined NOFX on stage standing in the sidelines, it was punk as fuck and we were all in it together.
The Time Warp track from The Rocky Horror Picture Show played as the four members of NOFX took the stage with gusto, waving to the slew of lifelong fans throughout the hall. The first night of the Melbourne leg of the tour focused on the 2006 studio album Wolves in Wolves Clothing, the 1994 release Punk in Drublic, and The War On Errorism released in 2003. This was a hefty set list sandwiched in between a lot of goofy quips, sharp political statements, profanity, and partial nudity. It may have felt like we were in an oversized scout hall but this wasn’t an all-ages gig.
Fat Mike greeted us and exclaimed ‘Always was and always will be’ which was met with a cheer before they launched into what the band stated as the ‘best album’ Wolves in Wolves Clothing with the tracks 60% and Seeing Double at the Triple Rock. Everyone joined in for the Da nah nah nah’s of Leave it Alone from Punk in Drublic and when Franco Un-American from The War On Errorism followed, the crowd lit up with the lyrics ‘Or hang down low with the nice Australians’. The joyful set continued with high-energy tracks and hilarious banter as Fat Mike asked the fans ‘Are there any parents here tonight? If there are any parents here tonight, you’re bad parents’ and when giving us a sneak peek of his nipples Fat Mike described them as ‘bigger than any mountain in your country’.
After many more sweet tracks including She’s Nubs, Fuck the Kids, Can’t Get the Stink Out and Linoleum (which was definitely a crowd favorite with a booming ‘That’s me inside your head’ rising up from the audience), the band had to take a ‘piss break’ where Fat Mike said ‘We’re old, we gotta pee. You can pee too but you don’t have to go to the bathroom’.
After a short break of steel drums over the PA we were blessed with a second act filled with even more highlights like the track that in Mike’s brain is the best song, The Separation of Church and Skate, ‘That song gets me all enthusiastic!’ and the song that Mike was not supposed to sing because it would screw up his voice, Don’t Call Me White but instead said ‘fuck the people who are coming tomorrow’. In real community style we also experienced some special guest appearances from Goldfinger’s guitarist, and vocalist Karina Denike and during the track Kill All the White Man Briggs stepped out onto the stage with NOFX to sing the chorus while miming the throat-slitting gesture with his thumb.
With that Melvin brought out the accordion for a slow jam medley, and Mike’s shirt came off and was thrown into the pit, there were hugs all around and in the same fashion that the set began, the track Science Fiction/Double Feature which closed out Rocky Horror played and closed out the night while everyone said their final goodbyes.
For a band that never signed to a major label, NOFX had a huge 40-year career selling millions of records worldwide, and they will always remain one of the most successful independent bands of all time on this final tour, they definitely lived up to their promise of playing with all their hearts and all their joy and now they are done. In the words of Fat Mike ‘We are done done.’
Huge thanks to the Festival Hall Crew for having us and a special thansk to Dave at Daimond Creatvie for arranging media access.
EVERYDAY METAL – SUPPORT LOCAL HEAVY METAL
