Bad Religion - 30 Years Live

Cover art + Tracklist

1. Fuck Armageddon, This Is Hell
2. Dearly Beloved
3. Suffer
4. Man With a Mission
5. New Dark Ages
6. Germs of Perfection
7. Marked
8. A Walk
9. Flat Earth Society
10. Resist Stance
11. American Jesus
12. Social Suicide
13. Atheist Peace
14. Tomorrow
15. Won't Somebody
16. Los Angeles Is Burning
17. We're Only Gonna Die

What can be said about Bad Religion that hasn’t already been said before? The band is legendary and has been an inspiration to hundreds of acts that followed them. The pioneers of West Coast Punk Rock have been in the game for 30 years and to show their appreciation they have released a free live album for download. It also serves as their way to commemorate their 30th anniversary tour.

Reviewing live albums always ends up boring for me. The album could be fantastic but there isn’t much to talk about regarding the material unless previously unreleased songs make their way onto the disc (see Earth Crisis) so I’m normally reduced to talking just about the production and overall feel of the record.

With that being said, both of those elements are incredible on this record. The production is one point. Most useless background noise has been carefully edited out to make it sound better but not to take away the “live” aspect of the record. You can really feel the energy coming from both the band and the crowd. As the album progressed I could totally hear that the band was feeding off the crowd’s energy and vice versa. When then band finally gets to their closing song “We’re Only Gonna Die” everyone in the room is at their peak energy level. It just shows how awesome Bad Religion is that after 30 years, they are still able to control a show like they do.

As awesome of a record as this is, I unfortunately still have some complaints with it. Aside from knowing some of the background information I do on this record, you can really tell that this was not recorded all in one night. After a few tracks you can specifically hear the cheering crowd fade out before the next song starts and the commentary from Greg Graffin between songs is very limited. When listening to a live album, I want to hear it as if I was there that night. I don’t want to hear a carefully spliced together collage of shows. It kind of kills the vibe for me. The other complaint I have is the lack of all three of my favorite Bad Religion songs Do What You Want, 21st Century Digital Boy, and Generator. I was really looking forward to hearing those tracks and was sadly disappointed when none of the made the cut for their 30th Anniversary Tour.

Two complaints that really don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. This album is fantastic and definitely recommended for all Bad Religion fans. Hell if you happen to be one of the 5 people in existence that never heard a Bad Religion song before, this is a good start. You get 17 great songs and an example of how awesome the band is live in one shot. Listening to this record made me dust off some of their other discs and now I want nothing more than to see them play live. Hopefully they come by soon after they release their next album in which they are currently working on.