Concert review: MxPx / Teenage Bottlerocket – Live in Chicago

House of Blues – 18 Nov 2022

Pop punk heavyweights join forces in the Windy City.

Since we were already driving through a blizzard to get from Grand Rapids to Chicago, we figured we might as well stay another night and catch another show. Our original destination was the So-Cal Punk Invasion tour featuring Black Flag, the Dickies, TSOL, and Total Chaos in the western suburbs. The bonus show was MxPx and Teenage Bottlerocket at the House of Blues in the heart of the city. 

I’d only been to the Windy City HOB one time previously, for The Damned and X, and was not a big fan of the venue. Many of those negative memories came rushing back on my second visit. First of all, we had to wait in a long line just to get inside to buy tickets. Then the $32.50 advance tickets were $45 at the door. I know it’s customary to raise the price a bit at the door, but that seemed excessive. (More reasons to despise Ticketmaster/Live Nation.) Then there were more lines before finally making our way into the packed venue. 

We knew things were getting serious when the opening of Slayer‘s “Raining Blood” came over the soundsystem, and not very closeted headbangers Teenage Bottlerocket took the stage. The hardworking Wyoming quartet has been slogging it out headlining small clubs for years, and I’ve mostly only seen them in that setting. They seemed to relish playing the bigger venue. They started with “Freak Out!” and played song after song. Ramones have to be among the biggest musical influences on the band, and they also employ the same workmanlike approach. TBR kick out the jams with minimal interaction between songs. 

With only two bands playing, TBR got a nice long 45 or 50 minute set. MxPx frontman Mike Herrera took over on vocals for “Without You”. Other highlights, for me at least, were “They Call Me Steve”, “Headbanger”, “Bloodbath at Burger King”, “Punk House of Horrors” and closer “Necrocomicon”. Along the way we also heard bits of Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop”, Judas Priest’s “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” and even Rush’s “Spirit of Radio”. Teenage Bottlerocket were definitely a bigger draw for me than the headliner, and they did not disappoint. 

I have a handful of MxPx CDs, but haven’t really listened to them for the last 15 years. I would call myself a casual fan at best, and had never seen them live. It didn’t take long for the Washington quartet to win me over. First of all, their sound was exceptional, much clearer than TBR’s. Herrera reminded the enthusiastic crowd that they had been around for 30 years, and that experience showed. Like TBR, they genuinely seemed to be enjoying themselves. 

I didn’t know more than about half the songs, but even that didn’t really detract from the experience. My favorites were among the biggest crowd pleasers. I really enjoyed “Play It Loud”, “Secret Weapon”, “Heard That Sound” and of course, “Chick Magnet”. I’m generally more of a classic punk guy than a pop punk guy, but I must give credit where credit is due. MxPx was a ton of fun live. As an added bonus, the blizzard was still in full force when we finally headed home. 

Confessions of a merch whore: Pretty decent spread overall. The standard T-shirts and sweatshirts were joined by skate decks and some other rad swag. It was icy cold in Chicago, so I picked up an MxPx beanie and a patch. Both feature their cool, spikey haired mascot dude.