The Unofficial Henry Rollins review

I was asked by Kaos to write my review of the recent Henry Rollins appearance here in lovely Rochester. I've had some difficulty remaining objective given my past experiences with Henry. You see, my guest for the show, mentioned they saw Henry way back in 2001 and that got me thinking. Fuck, I'm old. But not in a fuck I'm old bad way but in a good way.

The first time I saw Henry was when he was with Black Flag. That was nearly 25 years ago at Trenton City Gardens in Jersey, just up the river from my hometown of Philadelphia or more recently known as Killadelphia. A shit hole of a place when shows cost maybe 3 bucks and the underage drinks were served by John Stewart. Yeah, that John Stewart.

A wide range of audience members filled in the gaps of the Alternati as my companion referred to the crowd. Old and young, alike were glued to every word for the three hour nonstop rant. And I mean nonstop, the guy barely took a breath. It was evident that there were new and old friends of Henry in attendance given the minimal applause when he mentioned his childhood friend Ian. D.C. hardcore spawned some of the most memorable bands of the Reagan Era such as Government Issue, Bad Brains and Minor Threat, Ian MacKaye's band. The applause, a sort of nod of approval of days gone by, served as a reminder and a wake up call to the newly anointed.



Henry continues to stick it to The Man.

Old punks don't die they just get angrier.