The Rollins Band
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
http://21361.com
Rollins Band Concert Photos
X
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
http://XTheBand.com
X Concert Photos
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Stubb's BarBQ (Austin, Texas)
also: The Riverboat Gamblers

The "As the World Burns" tour featuring punk legends X and the Rollins Band ended with a blowout show in Austin, Texas to an audience crowded with both old and new friends. I think all of the Emo's staff was on hand (big fans of X), even the bartenders, leaving one to wonder who was left to serve the brews a few blocks south. I ran into people I knew from high school back some 25-odd years ago, and a few from my recent history too, like the ultra-cute Emily from Georgia that I met at the Hank III show.

I had pestered and bribed Henry Rollins for months about this show, ever since his SXSW '06 appearance and before the show was even announced, and persistance, or maybe annoyance, paid off. Thanks to Henry and his tour manager Michael I was added to both the guest and the photo pass list, and it really paid off with some great pictures.

Doors for the show opened at a very very early 6 pm, apparently catching many people off guard. I know I had figurerd on a 7 pm gate but was going to arrive early to wait for a friend. I hit the gate and had myself badged and banded by 6:30 pm, and then I made a dumb mistake. I assumed that my buddy who was going to meet me at the show was going to actually show up. I waited. I waited and waited. The openers, The Riverboat Gamblers, hit the stage at 7 pm sharp. I am still waiting. What a great sounding band. Wish I could see em, but I am still waiting. Heard Jone Doe came out and played the last two songs with them. I didn't see it - heard it, didn't see it. Check the cell phone. Nope no call. 7:35 and the music has stopped.

Still no friend, no call. Henry is scheduled to be on at 7:50 and they are running to the minute on the schedule. Well bud, I am not gonna blow this, so you're on your own.

I bolt through the gate with camera in hand, and rush up to the stage, just making it to the camera pit in time to take a couple of snap shots of the crowd to check my equipment.

One last glance at the cell phone, I am sure now is when my friend will show up. I luck out, no calls or messages. I pick my spot right in the middle, the lights snap off, and it starts.

The band filters out, Henry standing in front or the drum kit, back to the audience, the band and the lights kick on, and Henry pauses there for a moment showing the crowd his massive "Search and Destroy" tat, before he turns around and just about literally kicks ass.

Stripped down to a pair of black shorts, Henry scowled and growled his way through a blistering set that matched the temperature of the venue. I don't think he smiled once that I saw, but Henry is always mad about something. Tonight he took shots at the Katrina recovery efforts by the Bush administration. He applauded the efforts of Texans for taking in the victims and providing so much support. He also took time out to give props to all the old school Austin bands he used to play with like the Big Boys, the Explosives, Butthole Surfers and more. (I saw Roky Ericson's name on the guest list earlier).

Tonight I got the first three songs from the pit, then the tour manager had given me permission to take all the pictures from the audience that I wanted. As Henry blasted away, so did I, burning as many frames as the camera could keep up with. It seemed at times from my vantage point that Henry was mad just at me and was ready to come right off the stage and kick my ass, but that's just the way he is on stage. Still it's kind of disconcerting to see an almost naked man glaring and screaming at you from above.

Henry's set list for the show was mostly from his Weight album, but he started the show off with "On My Way to the Cage" as I snapped away from below. By the time I knew it, Henry was finishing up "Disconnect," my three songs were up and we journos were booted from the camera pit. The band fired into "Low Self Opinion" and I wandered my way back to the beer line to get a cold one and review my pics so far.

Heineken in hand, I checked my phone one more time for my MIA friend. Still no word. At this point I give up on him. Note to self: Next time invite girl instead.

After changing to my telephoto lens, I began to wander around looking for good spots to shoot from while the band continued to rip through their set onstage. The band blasted through "Divine," "All I Want," "Civilized," and "Icon," as I wandered from spot to spot trying hard not to whap the people in front of me with the big-ass telephoto lense.

Working my way around to the corners of the set I found that I could get pretty close to the stage on one side. By the time Henry was wrapping up the set with "Liar" and then "Fool," I found myself back at the entrance to the camera pit. When it was over Henry hooked it offstage in back to his bus rather than back to the green room of the club.

Waiting in the pit between sets I caught Michael the tour manager's eye and asked him how I could catch up to Henry and thank him personally for the passes. He told me that Henry was on the bus but would probably come out after the show to sign autographs and the like, and that would be the best time to catch him. I endeavored to do so, and then went about swapping out hardware for the X set. Big mistake.

I had been waiting for a good X set for quite some time. Exene's recent trip to Austin with her band at Emo's early in the summer had only partially whetted my appetite. I wanted to see the whole team, the real deal, Billy, John, D.J., and Exene. I wanted to hear them blast through a good old-fashioned X set, heavy on the Los Angeles. I wasn't disappointed. According to Henry's blog, "This is X’s town, when they hit stage tonight, it sounded like an Ozzy concert". He was pretty close to the mark.

Billy Zoom came out first, along with a guitar tech, no doubt to tweek his gear one last time, then John Doe, D.J., and then Exene. They looked the same as when I saw them in the early 80s , only older, which can be said about me and most of their audience as well. They sounded great, even better than way back. I don't know whether it was the acoustics, the 25+ years of practice since then, or just the buzz coming from the stage and the audience, but they just sounded tight.

Just then the camera (or camera operator) starts having "technical" difficulties. When I did my hardware swap I exchanged one memory card for another. Not realizing it was my problem, I futzed and adjusted but the camera only wanted to shoot when it was damned good and ready. The shots of Henry weren't like this at all. Frustrated and not knowing where my problem was, I decided to make the best of it and shoot what I could.

The expected tap on the shoulder never came after the end of the third song, so the other photographers and I looked at each other, shrugged, and kept on snapping. Fourth song, same thing; by the fifth I asked the pit security what was up and he said the band said we could all stay as long as we wanted. A glance over the pit barrier and I see Dottie from Emo's. With a half pissed-off smile she yells "I SHOULD BE WHERE YOU ARE!" barely audible over the band. She was correct, she should have been where I was. She is friends with Exene and she was supposed to be trying to get ME a pass. ;)

Extremely frustrated by now, I back out of the pit and into the crowd to take pics from the audience. If my camera is hosed up I don't want the band thinking I am snapping when I am not, and the space in the pit would be better used by someone without the camera issues.

I find a spot to swap out to the big telephoto and start wandering to find some unobstructed view of the stage. I take a few snaps, then it starts acting up again. Move, take a few more, crash. Move, take a few more, crash. Exene and the band pay homage to the home teams and dedicate "Los Angeles" to the Big Boys . Take a few more pictures, then crash again. Nuts to this. I decide to see if Henry is signing autographs yet, wander up the hill and out the gate. Around back, next to his tour bus is a security guy and 6-8 disparate fans hoping to catch Henry as well. Henry is on board already and has given no indication of leaving the air conditioning to sign autographs as of yet. After chatting up the security guy for info he doesn't have, after 5 minutes or so I wander back around, through the gate and back into the venue.

X is still cranking and at this point they have a large group of people onstage as backup singers. A closer look and it appears to be the Riverboat Gamblers. I take a few more pictures and as X kicks into the last song of the night I start heading back to the tour bus.

Now the line at the bus is about 50 people long. People start filtering out after the show and the line gets longer. I hang around for about 20 minutes, then decide to wander down to the afterparty at Emo's, to get something to drink and maybe run into X.

I pay the cover and go in. There is a punk band called " The End" playing. I take some pics and the camera now works flawlessly. Natch. I grab a cup of water and head out to the patio. Out on the patio I find Exene and Dottie engrossed in conversation. I butt in just long enough to thank her for the great show and letting me take photos, then I politely exit the conversation. I had noticed a couple newcomers to the patio were people from the line at Henry's bus, and they had signed CDs. I decide to hump it back over to the bus one last time to try to thank Henry, but by then the line had evaporated. Henry was back in the bus. Considering it a last opportunity missed, and pretty darn close to heat stroke I hoofed it back to the car.

There would be other chances to meet Henry.