Review – NoMeansNo at the Royal Albert Arms, Winnipeg, Oct 31 2009

– review by Eugene Osudar

the last time
i saw NoMeansNo
in Winnipeg
at the Park Theatre

i thought, one,
with the first song
oh no,
they’ve grown old

and then sudden;ly the dirge and groan
and moaning slumber
of the first song gave way to
song after song after song

pure
punk
power

and time changes
and explosiveness
a la The Minutemen
and Husker Du
and Devo! Ramones!
and all that is
wonderful about punk,

North American alt
punk music.

www.myspace.com/myspaceiswrong

No Means No
is the best Canadian punk band

e
v
e
r

and they continue
to rock
hard and puff
harder

in their 50s
than any kid
alive

Rob Wright on bass
John Wright on drums
and sharing most of the vocals
Tom Holliston on guitars and some
vocals and raps

Hot Live Guys
could have been

The Quiffs
could have been

The Nils
could have been

but they didn’t make
it

No Means No
show after show
every show
year after year
decade after decade

they show
the kids
who
is

b
o
s
s

after their 70 minute
set

on Halloween night
amidst
the bloody nurses
and gangsters
and ghouls and vampires
and sexy lumberjacks
(Rosemary)
and cowboys
and coppers
and self portraits

(some goof with a Kool
Kitty gunslinging Holy F#ck
tshirt holding a large
picture frame,

oops, that’s me!)

they huffed and puffed
and delivered
not one
not two
but three
encores
nearly another

30 minutes
worth of encores

That last show
at The Park

i chose as the hottest show
of whatever month that was

and this time around,

oh youngsters
oldsters, too

those
1
2
3
encores!

Massive
Monsters
of punk rock
blasts
so Minutemen

and the sing
a
long of Beat On The Brat
the sold out
Albert audience
singing every word!
oh sweet Ramones!

again, they began
with a dirge and moan
and groan
and then it began.

the Blast

o
f
f

here i am
Mike Herle

stacking words
like pan,
cakes
eating

spaces

and making Shawn exasperate
h
y
p
e
r
ventilate

shake heads

makes no sense at all

Husker Du!

halloween night
The Albert
legendary shows,

No Means No

here’s the set list

Old
Solo
Day Every
Humans
Jubilation
The River
The Fall
Mondo
Hawk
Faceless
One N’ Same
Bruno
Now
Slugs

5 more songs in the encores

the highlights,
Solo,
Day Every
Humans and
Jubilation

“settle down!”
but we can’t
we’re moving
all jumping
on the spot
not really bashing
just hopping,

boogie bass of Day Every
so very Minuteman
D Boon
and
Mike Watt
none better than!
with electric zaps
of guitar line synapse
straight into your
veins
mainlining
Tom’s narco
electric
leads

punk rock
junkie love
music may,
hem
No Means
Yes!
amen!

punk explosion of
Humans

detonation

funky riffs
of Jubilation
and
we’re moving

The River
grinds into me
the dirge
abrasive
corrosive
becomes
so intense that it gets
under me
into me
fills me
with The Beautiful
Horror
of hardcore!

(and i Hate hard,
core)

The Fall
tribal
drums
and i’m dancing
“This is Love!”

Faceless is so hot
Minutemen again

anytime,
i write
Minutemen
you know a song is great

D Boon
and Mike Watt didn’t write
garbage
(did they!)

One N Same
more tribal drums
me dancing

okay, now i’m thinking
this was an amazing shoW!

cuz Bruno
gives me the super
p
u
n
k
tingles
pure hot
punk
and Now
all big bombs
shattering and splattering
zombie brains
on the mosh pit
floor
and Slugs
super boppy
just as dangerous

hold on.

this was the best show of
October!

had to be.

cuz every song
in the encore

was All
About

The Minutemen

all about

No Means No!

it’s all jubilation
and freedom
and movement
and punk rock
intensity
we’re rolling
we’re singing
we’re dancing
we’re free
in this democracy
of music

“Beat on the brat
with a baseball bat!
oh yeah!
oh yeah!”

96 minutes

after it began

the old guys
showed
the youngsters

what it means

to be

p
u
n
k

No Means No
The Albert
October 31st!