Violent Femmes • September 9, 2024 • Sandy Amphitheater
Reviewed and Photographed by Kevin Rolfe
I’ve had the opportunity to see Violent Femmes a number of times over the years. Whether it be at festivals, as openers, or headlining, Violent Femmes always leave an impact. No one sounds like them. When you hear Gordon Gano’s voice it’s easy to know it’s them. They’re legends of “Folk Punk” and their unique style can be picked out anywhere. There was no need to identify them at a huge festival here. Violent Femmes were not only headlining Sandy Amphitheater, but the show was in such high demand a second night was added. We had the opportunity to attend that show.
Hallowed Ground
Violent Femmes were on tour celebrating their sophomore album, Hallowed Ground. Celebrating the 40th anniversary of this album might be strange to some. One might think, “Why wouldn’t they have celebrated their self-titled debut album?”. That would be a valid question. Many of the most recognizable songs come from that album. But celebrating Hallowed Ground feels like such a Violent Femmes move if I’ve ever seen one. Kicking against the norms and what’s expected from them. That’s why we love them, isn’t it?
Violent Femmes and I go way back as you can imagine. Throughout high school, if you were an alternative music kid, and you knew who Violent Femmes were, and not just “Blister In The Sun” but actually knew who they were, then you were pretty cool in that scene. I still remember when “American Music” came out and how much we all loved it. I’m always excited to get the opportunity to see these guys. I was eager to see how they would perform this unique celebration.
Set One
The night was set up in two parts. The first would be Violent Femmes performing Hallowed Ground in it’s entirety. Now as much as I enjoy Violent Femmes, I can’t pretend to be educated enough in their catalog to say that I was familiar with the whole album. From what I could tell, a good portion of the crowd was in the same boat as me. Not extremely familiar with these songs, but there for the experience nonetheless. And the experience was great. Some notable favorites of this set were, “Country Death”.
The entire show opened with this and the second the bassline was heard the crowd cheered their approval. My personal favorite was “It’s Gonna Rain”. The crowd who for the majority of this set were sitting, started moving quite a bit in their chairs. A lot of people couldn’t stay sitting. They just had to get up. So they got up and started moving. It was the perfect song to lead into the next set.
Set Two
After a twenty-minute intermission, Violent Femmes returned to the stage. They wasted no time sending this crowd into a frenzy. Set two began with what at any other show could be a closer, “Blister In The Sun”. The crowd roared! Everyone was on their feet. You would have thought the night was about to end. But we were only halfway through the show. This is one of the all-time great live songs. I had a blast watching people getting into it. They didn’t slow things down after that. They moved right into, “Kiss Off”.
This might be my favorite Violent Femmes song. I was taken back to some of the hangouts/ parties listening to this song with other alternative music fans. We loved singing along to this one. When the song gets to the breakdown starting with “One, One..” the audience totally locked into the lyrics and the emotion of the song. Everyone was screaming out the lyrics. I kept thinking “These are my people”. It was a great moment in the show.
The second set of the night was drastically different from the first. I thought it was cool to listen through a solid album and then go crazy for some of our favorite songs. And we did get pretty nuts. I looked at the audience and there were people much older than me. There were people my age. And then there were people much much younger. It was cool to see them all become the same age in a way. Just enjoying this unique and amazing band.
The night ended with “American Music”. There was a collective bump in energy. We were going out giving the song everything we had. People sang their hearts out and I could see the band and the fans having a great time. I was so impressed with Violent Femmes. They play such a unique style of music, but they play it so well. From Brian Ritchie’s unusual bass to the enormous saxophone, the show has so many interesting elements that are so very much Violent Femmes. And that’s exactly what we wanted from them.