D Generation

Photo by Shelley Hiam

D Generation

Judging from the scrawny, late-afternoon FFFF audience for D Generation, the NYC punk quintet whose 1991-99 run yielded a pair of critically heralded but commercially ignored LPs still gets no respect. Packed houses at Liberty Lunch some 10 to 15 years ago notwithstanding, fair shakes never hampered Jesse Malin's blue-collar crew, and a short festival set proved the perfect theatre for the group's frontman to assume his DIY Boss mantle. "Feel Like Suicide" from D Generation's self-titled 1994 debut and "Capital Offender" from follow-up No Lunch bitch-slapped the black-attired quintet back to life for this one in a fistful of reunion gigs. Off came Malin's coat, tie, and vest in quick succession, and as the dual guitarists slashed and burned to the rhythm section's gusts, resignation ("Working on the Avenue") and ire ("Vampire Nation") worked through the exuberant singer in waves. Shirtless, he kept rushing the stage front, soaked, the rest of the band barreling downhill for No Lunch's "Scorch" and "No Way Out." Once, across the river from where they played at Fun Fun Fun, D Generation incited a giant mosh. On Friday, grins from both the band and its remaining fans sufficed.