The Adolescents at Webster Hall's Grand Ballroom

Bassist Steve Soto was terminated from the surf punk band Agent Orange in December 1979. A month later he formed a skate punk band called the Adolescents in Fullerton, California, a suburb of Los Angeles on the border of Orange County. The band's line-up changed many times, and Soto also broke up and reformed the band thrice. The Adolescents presently consists of Soto, vocalist Tony Cadena, guitarists Dan Root and Ian Taylor, and drummer Mike Cambra. The band's seventh and most recent album is 2014's La Vendetta.

Performing tonight at Webster Hall's Grand Ballroom as part of the Black N' Blue Bowl, an annual all-day hardcore punk concert, the Adolescents played a fast, melodic brand of hardcore punk, with roaring guitar chords and gang vocal harmonies punctuating many choruses. At other times, stinging lead guitar riffs veered the band away from punk towards more traditional hard rock. Cadena's unrefined shouting, meanwhile, propelled the musicians' aggressive approach. The musicians, no longer adolescent, maintained the explosive fire of their youth. One can only marvel at  how it was possible, but the 36-year-old band performed with vintage vibrancy.

Visit the Adolescents at www.theadolescents.net.