Fear And Negative Approach pay tribute to David Johansen.
Lee Ving of Fear. All photos courtesy of Paul Holstein.
Fear are legendary, so even with tickets just shy of $50 for a Saturday night show in Ferndale, Michigan, my car was full and the show was sold out. We missed our exit and drove about 10 miles out of our way through some sketchy neighborhoods, then drove in circles to find a parking spot (which for another $7 ended up being more of a space that a car would fit into, rather than an actual spot). In the end, though, we arrived at The Magic Bag on the first day of March for arguably the best show of the year so far. It was a tough choice to be here, with H.R. (Bad Brains) doing another show (Candela) that was most likely all "Dub" but was billed as including the music of Bad Brains, and the Prove It! Fest over at Small's Bar, which was a tribute to the late Bob Gibson.
We started with the merch booths and noticed right away that Fear had a CD single of "Trash" (New York Dolls cover) for sale as a benefit for David Johansen (a.k.a. Buster Poindexter and The Ghost of Christmas Past in "Scrooged" with Bill Murray). Unfortunately, David had passed away the night before. Negative Approach would also do a shout-out to David during their set. Fear also had some great custom T-shirts just for this mini-tour, with dates listed on the back that included the show in Ferndale.
The first band to hit the stage, a late edition to the roster, was H8 Mile. They started out with an intro that was way too long and then dove into a set of "noise" punk. They mentioned so many times throughout the set that they were still the band "H8 Mile" that by the end, I was expecting them to switch it up and change their name. My group was mixed on how much we enjoyed them, but we all agreed that they had everything necessary to be really good and we would look forward to seeing them again down the road.
Punk Rock Bowling 2025
I had just bought tickets to the 7 Seconds/Negative Approach/The Effigies/Stalag 13/Incendiary Device show that is upcoming in Las Vegas during Punk Rock Bowling 2025, but I never miss a chance to see them. They had the crowd in a frenzy from the first song, as they ripped through almost their entire EP as well as songs from "Tied Down." They included their cover of "Borstal Breakout" and ended with a song that I believe is from their other band, Easy Action. John Brannon was in rare form, and this was the perfect lead in to having a beer with Fear. As mentioned previously, John did take a few moments for a heartfelt tribute to the late David Johansen.
Fear’s saxophonist for “New York’s Alright If You Like Saxophones” and Taylor Hawkins’ son on drums.
Lee Ving and Spit Stix are the two original members of Fear that are still touring with the band, but for this show Spit had touring obligations with another band. Normally that wouldn't be ideal; however, for this show we got Shane Hawkins, son of the late Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters), filling in, and he did an amazing job. This was billed as "40 Years of 'More Beer' with Fear 2025," their 40th anniversary tour. They started with their usual opener, "The Mouth Don't Stop," and continued with a 23-song set that also included the classics "Let's Have a War," "I Love Livin' in the City," "I Don't Care About You," and "Have A Beer With Fear."
Lee did a shout-out to his friend John Belushi, who famously got Fear a spot on the TV show Saturday Night Live. If you aren't familiar with the story, read into it. All of the famous punks from that time (including Ian from Minor Threat and Tesco from The Meatmen) came out and helped them start a riot that caused SNL to cut their live feed for the first time. That episode was recently featured as part of the SNL 50th Anniversary Special, which made this show extra special. Another highlight of the evening was during "New York's Alright If You Like Saxophones," when they brought out a guest saxophonist. At 74 years old, Lee Ving can still bring the action. I sure hope this isn't the last time I get to see them.
Marquee at The Magic Bag 03/01/2025.
