All
Waterloo Park, Nov. 8Pop-punk powerhouse All pitched its classically candid, sweet, and sometimes angry love songs from the FFFF stage with the same energy it’s had since the early 1990s. “Skin Deep,” “Mary,” and “Dot” inflicted blows immediate and heartbreaking, though easier somehow now that we’ve all grown up. Branded in the minds of everyone in that seething audience of fans old and young was a resurrection of the All-O-Gistics. Chad Price was spry and oscillated from stage left to right religiously, stirring the cauldron of fist-in-the-air fans who knew every word and still apply those commandments today. Plucking evenly from their sprawling discography, the Colorado combine left their Descendents happy and sated. There’s something restorative about Karl Alvarez’s throaty vocals and sturdy bass lines, Stephen Egerton’s consummate guitar, Bill Stevenson’s transcendent drums, and Price’s vocals. Good to see it remains. Whatever it is.
This article appears in November 14 • 2008.