Live Review: NOFX - Temple Newsham Park, Leeds 26/05/2023
Californian punk stalwarts NOFX come to Leeds as part of their final two UK shows, bringing with them a whole host of impressive supports.
Arriving in an already boiling Leeds city centre, it’s clear that this isn’t your average Friday afternoon. From the moment we step foot outside of the train station, punks and skaters litter the streets, both figuratively and in some cases literally. A strong festival atmosphere hangs in the air, much the bemusement of the suits and commuters that have finished early for the Bank Holiday and are now rubbing shoulders with the mohawked and denimed across the city’s bars.
It's an atmosphere only heightened on the shuttle bus to Temple Newsham too. Even when the driver admits to being hopelessly lost, and relies on some good natured and already drunk Scots to direct him successfully, to good natured and mildly sarcastic cheers from the rest of the bus.
In fact, it’s an atmosphere that continues all evening. Though the whole site is given over to various festivals this weekend, tonight we’re here for NOFX’s final run of shows, one of just two in the UK in conjunction with Slam Dunk Festival (taking place here on Sunday), and as a result, only one tent and a couple of bars/food outlets are given over to tonight’s show.
Not that matters, the crowd feels surprisingly small given the nature of the gig, but what it may lack in numbers, it more than makes up for in enthusiasm; a huge roar erupting as Codefendents take to the stage.
The new band of NOFX frontman Fat Mike might seem an odd inclusion at first, but it’s the perfect way to introduce the band to established fans. All clad in uniform suits as they flit from genre-bending number to genre-bending number, including early outings for early singles ‘Suicide By Pigs’ and ‘Abscessed’. It’s a short, sharp start to the evening the whets the appetite for what’s to come.
And indeed, what comes next is thunderous thirty minutes from Canadian hardcore veterans Comeback Kid. Opening with recent single ‘Heavy Steps’, before heading into fan-favourite ‘False Idols Fall’ it’s a lesson in how hardcore should be done. Mosh pits open in front of the stage and are soon filled with flailing fists and elbows; friendly in intention, but not somewhere you want to end up accidentally. It’s fast, furious, and for those involved in the mosh pit at least, certainly cathartic, and by the time they end on an expected but no less excellent ‘Wake the Dead’ you know you’ve seen something special.
Perhaps an unsurprising addition to the line-up given they’re Fat Wreck Chord mainstays, but it’s not often Lagwagon make it to the UK, and though the set they offer up seems shorter than it perhaps could have been, it’s clear that time constraints are playing a part. Though short, it’s packed with welcome inclusions such as ‘Violins’, an excellent cover of Van Morrison’s ‘Brown Eyed Girl’, and the circle-pit inducing ‘May 16th’ which rewards the band with an even louder singalong than the aforementioned cover.
Another mainstay of the punk world, and a band that are undoubtedly already familiar to everyone in attendance, Less Than Jake are tonight’s main support, and while time constraints once again seem to rear their ugly head, the Gainsville-based five-piece are on spectacular form. Opening with their typical closer is a bold move, but ‘Gainsville Rock City’ is a sure-fire way to get the whole crowd warmed up in moments, its big, bold brass lines both cheesy, yet also welcoming and familiar.
Elsewhere, ‘Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts’ provides a slice of early LTJ and another chance for the crowd to exercise their voice. “This one’s a circle pit song,” the band declare, as if this crowd needs any kind of excuse or invitation. ‘The Science of Selling Yourself Short’ offers up a moment of respite, for limbs if not lungs. Of course, there are a couple of expected notable tracks from tonight’s setlist, but with Less Than Jake celebrating the anniversary of that album here on Sunday, their omission is understandable if not obvious. And by the time the band walk of stage, their job of warming up the crowd is well and truly done.
The premise of NOFX’s final tour doing 40 songs a night (including two full albums) across 40 cities is a bold one, yet one they seem not only to be living up to, but relishing in. And as the band take to the stage to The Rocky Horror Picture Show’s ‘Timewarp’, Fat Mike in a slinky red dress, the roar that meets them is deafening.
Though their appearance here tonight is somewhat bittersweet, the devotion they inspire in their fans is nothing but inspiring, and from the moment they launch into opener ’60 Seconds’ mosh pits open and crowd surfers begin their surge towards the barrier. Indeed, with tonight’s show focusing on their Wolves in Wolves Clothing and Punk in Drublic albums, much of the setlist is given over to those records, with early outings for the likes of ‘Leave It Alone’, ‘The Quass’ and ‘Dying Degree’ all whipping the crowd into a raucous frenzy.
Of course, with 40 songs at their disposal, it’s not just tracks from said records that get airing. Pump Up The Valium and The War on Errorism get their fair share of numbers in the form of a bouncy ‘Franco Un-American’, an explosive ‘Bottles to the Ground’ and ‘What’s The Matter With Parents Today’ to name but three.
Anyone who has seen NOFX live before know that they can it can really be a hit or miss spectacle – their show here at Slam Dunk four years ago a prime example, yet tonight they seem on perfect form, and while a mid-set “piss-break” (nudge nudge wink wink) risks stymying the pace of proceedings, it thankfully does nothing of the sort, and the band return with a welcome rendition of ‘Linoleum’, once again seeing the crowd erupt into a sea of flailing limbs.
With such a rich (if not varied) back catalogue, it must be difficult for the band to choose how to fill moments not taken from either album. Yet tonight they seem to manage it without issue, with not a complaint heard once over the course of the evening. As ‘Mattersville’ comes to a close and the band launch into the shout-along classic ‘The Brews’, it’s clear the evening’s drawing to its end yet still NOFX plug on with ‘Don’t Call Me White’, ‘Reeko’ and a reworked version of ‘Theme from A NOFX Album’ finally rounding out the evening’s proceedings perfectly.
Though, as mentioned earlier, tonight was something of a bittersweet evening, we leave safe in the knowledge that there probably wasn’t a better way for the band to say goodbye to the North of England. And while there’s bands that break up only to reform a few years later for anniversaries and reunion tours, we also leave safe in the knowledge that Fat Mike and co “won’t do a Motley Crue”. So, as they bow for a final time and leave the stage, we know it really is goodbye.
Words by Dave Beech
Photos by Izzy Clayton
