Rancid at Terminal 5

Tim Armstrong

Guitarist/vocalist Tim Armstrong and bassist/vocalist Matt Freeman met at the age of five playing Little League baseball in the working-class town of Albany, California, near Berkeley. The two later played together in the ska punk band Operation Ivy from 1987 to 1989. When Operation Ivy split, Armstrong and Freeman formed a series of ska and hardcore bands with short life spans before forming Rancid in 1991. Rancid presently consists of Armstrong, Freeman, guitarist/vocalist Lars Frederiksen, and drummer Branden Steineckert. Rancid's eighth album, ...Honor Is All We Know, was released on October 27, 2014.

Tonight on the second of two consecutive sold out headlining shows at Terminal 5, Rancid performed 28 rapid-fire songs with hardly a breath of air in between the songs. Rancid celebrated the 20th anniversary of its biggest selling album, ...And Out Come the Wolves, with a set strongly peppered with those songs; the band played six songs from the earlier breakthrough album Let's Go and only one or two songs from each of the more recent, lesser-selling albums. Rancid proved that it was primarily a live band however, as the band drilled massive holes in the atmosphere with fast and powerful sonic blasts of pure hardcore. Song after song, the riotous music rocked fast and loud with rallying choruses. From beginning to end, "Maxwell Murder" to "Ruby SoHo," high-octane energy generated from the stage; the front line musicians only stood still when they had to use the microphones. This tsunami poured into the bouncing, shouting, fist-pumping audience. Rancid perfected the art and power of maximum throttle punk rock.

Visit Rancid at www.rancidrancid.com.