The cavernous Paradise Rock Club swelled with the chant “Hey! Ho! Let’s Go!” as the pitch-black stage came brilliantly to life for legendary drummer Marky Ramone and vocalist Andrew W.K., commencing the Blitzkrieg bonanza of moshing, hair thrashing, crowd surfing, beer showers and timeless punk anthems of Ramones classics one after the other. The effortlessly cool Marky Ramone calmly took his throne as frontman W.K. exploded with an invigorating energy that refused to quit for the nonstop 90-minute set.
W.K. yelled out, “Let’s have some fun!” and with a fist pump, commanded the percussion clash and blaring electric guitar of the first song, “Rockaway Beach.” Smoothly and ceaselessly, from one hit to the next, Marky Ramone’s perfect execution on the quick and concentrated drum beats of the punk rock tunes gave free reign to party man W.K. all in white, hair mop flying and fists pumping in the air. Without pause, the group plowed through “Teenage Lobotomy,” “Psycho Therapy,” and “I Don’t Care,” where W.K. invited the audience to scream along with the chorus before absolute chaos ensued for favorite “Sheena is a Punk Rocker.” The first of many drunk, mohawked diehards leapt onto the stage from crowd surfing as beer rained down and cans flew through the air while he sung with W.K. and quickly dove back into the crowd before security could nab him.
The hits kept coming with “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend,” where W.K. pointed to girls in the crowd and threw the mic to the audience to sing along with his punk rock croon before the fast paced “Beat on the Brat” turned the whole venue into a mosh pit. Raising his arms to the sky, W.K. got the crowd to join in the pumping hand motions of “53rd and 3rd.” The angry vocal chorus of “I Don’t Want You,” followed by the quick metallic riffs of “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue” had the whole place jumping and head banging. Having fun with “Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment,” W. K. convulsed about while the neon lights illuminated the sweat flying from his thrashing hair. The sing songy “Rock and Roll High School” carried the youthful and rebellious energy into “Oh Oh I Love Her So” and “Judy is a Punk” before crowd favorite “The KKK Took My Baby Away” had multiple crowd surfers and moshers indulging in the spectacle as a shoe flew onto stage and became a prop for W.K.’s antics.
The first pause for breath came when W.K. acknowledged the amazing sound reverberating off the venue’s low walls. He riled up cheers for Marky Ramone as he displayed legendary drum skills in the electric intro to “Pet Sematary” and ran around to slam his head along with the high pitched guitar riff of “Chinese Rock.” With a big goofy smile before reassuming his punk grimace, W.K. reached into the crowd, who grabbed at his every limb to spike the ceaseless vigour of legend punk anthem “I Wanna Be Sedated.” He finished the set with a head bang and eyes rolled into the back of his head.
The first encore kicked off with percussion heavy intro to “I Can’t Make It On Time,” glorifying Marky Ramone’s skill and genre defining punk rock sound. The party continued with “I Don’t Want to Grow Up,” followed by screeching electric guitar riffs of “Cretin Hop” as two leather-clad fans snuck onto the stage and sprinted into stage dives with excited encouragement from W.K. A cover of Motorhead’s “R.A.M.O.N.E.S” finished the encore, but deafening chants of “Hey! Ho! Let’s Go!” brought the musicians back for the concluding set of anarchist “I Don’t Wanna Go Down to the Basement” and the popular hit “My Brain is Hanging Upside Down” before a metal rendition of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.” The second encore finished off the show in spectacular fashion with long awaited legendary classic “Blitzkreig Bop.” W.K. yelled, “Everybody now!” as the sold out show of the international tour erupted into madness for the final hit.
Set List
Rockaway Beach
Teenage Lobotomy
Psycho Therapy
Do You Wanna Dance?
I Don’t Care
Sheena is a Punk Rocker
Havana Affair
Commando
I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
Beat on the Brat
53rd and 3rd
I Don’t Want You
Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue
Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment
Rock n’ Roll High School
Oh Oh I Love Her So
She’s The One
Judy is a Punk
I Believe in Miracles
The KKK Took My Baby Away
Pet Sematary
Chinese Rock
I Wanna Be Sedated
I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You
Pinhead
First Encore
I Can’t Make it On Time
Do You Remember Rock n’ Roll Radio?
I Just Wanna Have Something to Do
I Don’t Wanna Grow Up
Cretin Hop
R.A.M.O.N.E.S. (Motorhead)
Second Encore
I Don’t Wanna Go Down to the Basement
My Brain is Hanging Upside Down
What a Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong)
Blitzkrieg Bop
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