Black Flag & Total Chaos – O2 Ritz, Manchester

American punk band, Black Flag are back in the UK on an insane 7 day UK tour. Tonight they take over Manchester’s O2 Ritz with special guests Total Chaos to start the night with a bang.

With an insane 19 song set list this is going to be a night of classic punk rock to remember!

Total Chaos

The intro tape begins, the lights go down and American Hardcore Punk band Total Chaos take to the stage, the four person band, sporting black skinny jeans and vests with spiked leather jackets, matching the frontman’s black spiked hair.

Kicking off the night with their first track of their 16 song set list War is a Racket, if you’re after old school edgy punk then you came to the right show, these guys are playing as if the 70s wave of punk had never taken a break, and they really want to show everyone here that punk never dies.

Now it wouldn’t be a punk show without the band demanding that the crowd get insanely messed up tonight would it, and that’s what Rob Chaos tells the crowd to do. Now it’s the start of the night so give the crowd a bit of time to get lively.

Punk No Die takes a slightly softer tone compared to the first four songs of the set, that repeated the traditional punk vibe and kept it a lot more toned down, but honestly I think this was just a way to make sure Manchester was prepared for Conspiracy and now the crowd livens up! There’s the mix of generations at the barrier with their heads banging, long hair and Mohawks are everywhere like they’re fighting to get over to the stage. The edge is here and the act of rebellion is filling the room!

Bassist Joe has removed his vest and is running around in just his jeans as the intro to Complete Control fires in. I will always love seeing the original punks of the world show that age doesn’t mean anything, if you want to actually rock out and go absolutely nuts! Shawn’s guitar playing is going off and the presence these guys have on stage is amplifying the room!

Raw, deep and dark riffs fill the room with heavy drums and growling angry screams, anarchy has fully landed at the Ritz!

“POWER, POWER TO THE PEOPLE FUCK THE GOVERNMENT WHAT MAKES THEM DIFFERENT FROM YOU?! THEY’RE THE SAME YOU ALSO HAVE THE POWER THE POWER OF WAR THE POWER OF EVERYTHING AND YOU ARE EVERYTHING”

Police Rat is the perfect way to carry on after an insane and let’s face is accurate motivational wake-up call from Chaos.

Bassist Joe E. Bastard runs off the stage and into the photo pit much to the shock of the security jumping with the crowd at the barrier, and in comes the crowd surfers! Audience members are on shoulders, some even at the front, a wave of head banging and horns are raised in the air.

The chants for Police Rat begin and the entire crowd join in with the band before jumping into Punk Invasion, followed by Nation of War, Street Punx & Horrorvision.

Onto the final three songs of the set, the lights come on among the crowd as the guys look around the room at the array of generations that have shown up at their show tonight.

What You Gonna Do as the third to last song gets the mosh pits open and carnage has begun!

Total Chaos are legends of the game, with a sound that does change but never gets old, they kickstarted this night at the Ritz in true punk fashion and deserve every amount of recognition, head banging and mosh pits that got thrown their way tonight. You can tell security weren’t expecting for the bassist to keep running into the crowd during the set to run into the pit, as a group of them go running.

And finally ending the set with Toxic Fallout & Riot City, they make their exit not before getting the crowd to scream with them at the top of their lungs, getting out every bit of frustration they’ve bottled up from society’s rules.

Setlist

1. War Is a Racket

2. Babylon

3. Squatters Song

4. Pledge of Defiance

5. Punk No Die

6. Running With the Youth

7. Conspiracy

8. Complete Control

9. Police Rat

10. Punk Invasion

11. Nation of War

12. Street Punx

13. Horrorvision

14. What You Gonna Do

15. Toxic Fallout

16. Riot City

Black Flag

Now time for the band of the night! American Punk band, Black Flag. The Ritz is completely packed out now, everyone feels alive after having worked all the way through the week, it’s Friday night and it’s time to let loose.

The band comes out on the stage, sporting black jeans and black t-shirts keeping simple. .

Before the first song of this 19 track set kicks in with Can’t Decide,vocalist Mike Valley keeps his back turned away from the crowd for the build up with the bassist and guitarist doing most of the work of bringing the crowd back to life, now this is the issue from the get go of this set the stage presence is quite bland. The main thing that’s catching my eye is the insanely beautiful glass guitar that is scaring the crap out of me, with the possibility of it breaking.

As soon as the build-up is done you would think the band would amp up the energy on stage? Not really, it’s still kind of flat and when you have Total Chaos on beforehand running around like it’s their first show, it kind of changes the tune of things. However this is how i saw it because behind me over the barrier, the crowd was loving every second of this set, crowd surfers were in full swing and as someone that’s been in plenty of crowd surfing heavy crowds, I’m used to almost or definitely getting hit on the head with someone’s feet as they get pulled over. And seeing the smile on the fans faces as they get that adrenaline rush is always amazing to see as they make their way back into the crowd.

Towards the end of No Values frontman Mike Valley is facing the crowd, leg perched up on the platform belting out every lyric and the crowd was loving it.

Bassist Harley Duggan had an incredible stage presence when it came to interacting with the fans from afar making sure everyone in the front knew that he could see them like they could see him.

The band’s guitar work is one to remember from this performance, Greg Ginn’s frantic and distorted playing drove the songs forward.

Despite their performance being fairly mediocre on stage, they do bring a sense of chaos and anarchy to the crowd, it’s like all sense of control goes out of the window, as punter after punter is being thrown over the barriers by various members of the crowd.

The band’s political and social commentary stands out massively, but what punk band would be punk if they didn’t make their valid opinions known? The band’s lyrics deal with themes of alienation, rebellion, and social justice, and are delivered in such a powerful way it’s like they’re screaming at the causes of the issues as if they’re directly in front of their faces. The band’s anti-establishment stance further gets emphasised by their confrontations with authorities, both on and off stage over their career. Even though the guys are a bit more reserved these days, the angst carries through with them through these lyrics, sweat dripping as the performance carries on.

Now although this wasn’t a performance for me as I was still blown away by Total Chaos, the fans seemed to love every second of it, if you’re already a fan of Black Flag then catch one of their shows just to feel that level of power in the room. However it is safe to say that their influence on the punk rock and underground music scene can still be felt today through the walls of Manchester’s O2 Ritz.

And as the night comes to a close with a finish from Rise Above and Louie Louie the show ends with a blast of cheers from the crowd.

Setlist: