Live review: The Queers / Sloppy Seconds live at Sanctuary

Hamtramck, MI – 20 Jul 2024

The Queers and Sloppy Seconds team up to create a must see two-headed pop punk monster.

The last time I saw Sloppy Seconds and The Queers share a stage, and I believe the last time they played together, was June 20th, 2014. Slightly more than a decade ago, a friend and I drove six hours from Grand Rapids, MI to Louisville, KY for a one off dream bill. Needless to say, the same friend and I were stoked to take in the same thrilling action 10 years later only three hours from home in Chicago. This time around, a good chunk of the East Coast and a few cities in Canada were also able to take in this two-headed (three-headed?) pop-punk monstrosity. 

We enjoyed it so much that we drove another four and a half hours east to see it again in Detroit the next night. This review is mainly for the Sanctuary show in Hamtramck on Saturday July 20th, because I drank less and took better notes. The main difference between the two was that the Motor City wasn’t treated to the additional high energy half hour set from Windy City heroes The Bollweevils. There may be combined elements in this review, but the setlists are from Saturday. 

Raging Nathans started things off with 30 excellent minutes of fast, melodic punk. The Dayton quartet has been around for more than 10 years, but they are clearly still hungry. I don’t know that there’s any current band playing a better half hour set. They are a well oiled machine, whether playing songs from their first LP Losing It (2014), or their most recent, Still Spitting Blood (2023). I’ve been lucky enough to see them four times in less than a year, and they never disappoint. Everyone who sees them leaves impressed. 

A minor annoyance during Raging Nathans’ set was a father and son combo down front. The skinny kid couldn’t have been more than 10, and was wearing giant over the ear headphones. Dad kept putting him on his shoulders and bringing him into the pit. Supposedly, the kid’s dream was to stage dive/crowd surf at a Raging Nathans’ show. The band and crowd accommodated him at least one time too many. 

Sloppy Seconds were the cream in the punk rock Oreo. After some technical difficulties on opening night on Friday, they were starting to hit their stride on Saturday. They played songs from all four of their LPs, but relied heavily on their 1989 classic Destroyed. Thirty five years later, those songs have an ability to get people singing and dancing. Other politically incorrect tunes like “You’ve Got a Great Body, but Your Record Collection Sucks” and “Why Don’t Lesbians Love Me?” were also met with a mighty roar. I sang till I was hoarse. 

Sloppy Seconds setlist: “Germany”, “You’ve Got a Great Body, but Your Record Collection Sucks”, “Why Don’t Lesbians Love Me?”, “Queen of Outer Space”, “Mighty Heroes”, “Come Back Traci”, “The Pop My Dick Song”, “You Can’t Kill Joey Ramone”, “Runnin’ from the CIA”, “Horror of Party Beach”, “Shut Up and Pour Me a Drink”, “Blackmail”, “Ice Cream Man”, “I Want ‘Em Dead”, “Janie is a Nazi”, “So Fucked Up”.

There was one song noticeably absent – “I Don’t Wanna be a Homosexual”. I’ve seen Sloppy Seconds about 30 times, and they’ve always played it. I would argue it’s their signature song. I’m hoping that it’s just getting a break from the rotation, and that the very clever song hasn’t fallen victim to the humorless mob. I assume anyone going to see The Queers and Sloppy Seconds knows what they’re getting themselves into. I was actually sort of inspired by the number of young people carrying around brand new vinyl copies of Destroyed.

In some ways, The Queers and Sloppy Seconds are a study in contrasts. They’ve both played raunchy pop-punk since the ‘80s, but that’s about where the similarities end. The Queers have released more than a dozen proper studio LPs, and have over 60 releases in their discography. Led by sole constant Joe King, the band has had enough members to populate a small village. Sloppy Seconds only have four proper studio LPs, and a discography about 20 records deep. They’ve also only had a single significant lineup change, and that was 30 years ago. 

Like the Ramones before them, The Queers knocked out 30 songs with very little fanfare. King isn’t playing guitar in the current lineup, so he just stood between his Italian guitarist and bassist spitting out the words and pumping his fist. The bulk of the set came from the band’s Lookout! Records years, but they did cover a fair amount of ground. The Screeching Weasel adjacent songs like “Like a Parasite” and “Cindy’s on Methadone” are always my favorites. Overall, it was a really solid set. Unfortunately, the little kid was back for The Queers, this time shirtless. Joe just ignored him, which was the right thing to do.

The Queers setlist: “Rollerdog”, “Tamara is a Punk”, “Like a Parasite”, “I Met Her at the Rat”, “Debra Jean”, “Blabbermouth”, “Teenage Bonehead”, “I Can’t Stop Farting”, “Night of the Livid Queers”, “My Old Man’s a Fatso”, “I Want Cunt”, “Monster Zero”, “I Spent the Rent”, “Nothing to Do”, “Fuck You”, “No Tit”, “You’re Tripping”, “I Hate Everything”, “Hi Mom, It’s Me!”, “Granola-Head”, “Ursula Finally Has Tits”, “Get a Life and Live it Loser”, “See You Later Fuckface”, “Kicked Out of the Webelos”, “Love Love Love”, Cindy’s on Methadone”, “The KKK Took My Baby Away”, “Fuck the World”, “This Place Sucks”, “Punk Rock Girls”, “Noodlebrain”.

Confessions of a merch whore: The only thing I bought, other than beer, was another version of Destroyed. This time it was classic black on Puke N Vomit Records. It’s my 5th copy of this particular record and I have no regrets!