Two days following the Freshlyground performance, I found myself soaked in beer and being wildly jostled around in a very different type of musical performance. I attended the NOFX concert at the Bassline in Newtown, Johannesburg, 12 November 2007. It’s a small venue, with a capacity of 1 000 people which made for a very intimate show. I’m not all too familiar with NOFX’s music, except for their most popular Punk in Drublic album. Punk band NOFX have been around for quite some time, and considering their blatantly excessive lifestyles, still look young, fit and healthy, and definitely know how to put on a good show (despite what they’ll have you believe). Bassist and lead vocalist Fat Mike is quite a comedic character providing a lot of on-stage banter much to the audiences delight. The show was initially delayed somewhat, with the band threatening not to perform, after audience members spat at the band as they walked out (must be a punk thing). But once the culprits had been identified and escorted out by some pretty tough looking NOFX roadies, the band performed with much vigour. Some highlight chirps from Fat Mike included gems such as: “When we play in Asia we play to Asian people. And when we plan in South America we play to South American people. But when we play in Africa we play to European people?!?! (following which they played Kill all the White Man) (another interesting aside is that he mentioned that there were no black people at their Cape Town and Durban performances, but that there were a couple in Jozi); and “We love touring the most fucked up countries in the world, and their most fucked up cities, and Johannesburg is definitely one of the most fucked places we’ve ever been to. We played in Australia once, that was awesome. You guys should go there. Except… you’ve got some good cocaine here.” He also sheepishly admitted that they’d be going on a tour of Soweto tomorrow on a tour bus. And he pointed out that he’d never seen so many long haired guys at a punk performance before, nor had he ever seen a guy with an afro at a punk performance (again, this is Jozi). Throughout the performance Fat Mike continued to drink from various refilled beverages positioned in his own permanent mic-stand cup holder, and seemed to get quite overly intoxicated later in the show, sometimes walking off stage, then being helped back up by his backstage crew. This didn’t hamper the performance of one their last but best songs of the night - Don’t Call Me White. Addressing issues pertaining to the “white” legacy, this song in particular went down well with the South African audience. This was easily one of the best concerts I have attended this year.
NOFX were supported by local ska/punk band Fuzigish. These guys never disappoint, and if you haven’t heard them yet you should visit their MySpace page and listen to some of their tracks (especially Mozambique) and find out when they’ll be performing again.
