Concert review: Australia strikes back in Anaheim

By Brian Spiegel
On-line Forty-Niner

The Living End is one of the most vital and consistent acts in punk music today. The Aussie band (who pre-dated the current Aussie invasion by a few years) hit the U.S. charts five years ago with its modern rock smash "Prisoner of Society". But after its criminally underrated 2001 album "Roll On" failed to make too much of an impact here in the states the band seemed to revert back to the underground occasionally coming back to open for big name bands like The Offspring and Green Day.

But like the mighty Phoenix, The Living End are back on the U.S. charts (and stages) with a great new album "Modern ARTillery" and a new tour which stopped Monday night at Chain Reaction in Anaheim.

It was evident that the Living End hasn't lost its edge. The band can still command a crowd. From even before the first note (the crowd was chanting the band's name during the long, long break between sets), the band had the crowd eating out of its collective hands.

The band played a long 16 song set which was at best blazing and powerful and at worst long and winded. The band hit high points with "Prisoner of Society" and the rockabilly charm of "Carry Me Home."

Overall the musicianship was amazing and the bands Reverend Horton Heat-esque rockabilly fits were worth the ticket price alone. The band proved once again that it is worthy of the title (ok, my self imposed title) of the best Australian band performing music today.

Opening act Jackson United and Maxeen were pure sublime (not the band). Jackson United had a sophisticated punk sound; sort of a Nirvana meets Sensefield vibe that was vaguely remisnesant of Sonichrome.

Maxeen is flat out a great band. Their bass-heavy, reggae/punk influence is a perfect mix. I hate to call them pop/punk but some of its songs are so catchy that unless you were dead you were singing one of the songs on the way home.