Review: Dead Kennedys/Govt Issue show

[Tim Wicinski <wicinski@nrl-css.ARPA>]

.ll 4.5i
.sp 5
DEAD KENNEDYS/GOVERNMENT ISSUE/MORALLY BANKRUPT/ WUST Radio Music Hall
November 18, 1985. 7:30 - Midnight.

Promoters should get this idea through their head that shows DON'T
START ON TIME!  Why advertise for 7:30 when the doors didn't open to
almost 9 pm...I showed up about 8:30, mainly to get a ticket, so I
ended up in line for a half an hour.  I met this kid who was beating
off in the alley....he said he was !davidl former lover, and he says
!davidl is the warmest, most sweetest human being alive...and you know
something...I think he's right.  Anyway, I bought a copy of the fanzine
hofmann babbled about, WDC period...not bad, read some of it in line.
It's great to watch teenagers getting high for the first time waiting
for the doors to open (with a strong background in sociology, it's
ALWAYS great to watch humans)....what an experience.  I also met a guy
in line who a copy of the Yippie newspaper "Overthrow". Pretty
interesting, he told me where to get a copy of it...but he also said
"Don't subscribe to that paper !! You'll be chicken shit in a month."
Good advice.

Morally Bankrupt was the first band, also from San Francisco. They have
members of MDC and someone else...it escapes me at this moment.  They
have an album out on Slime Records for 5.00 they were hawking during
the show (Slime Records, PO Box 880312, San Francisco CA 94188-0312).
Not a bad group, but they could use some better vocals, as usual you
couldn't understand a word they said. Their encore was a song they said
they wrote but was stolen by the DK's, "Too Drunk to Fuck".  The lead
singer mentioned they're going to rename it "Too Young too Fuck." Guess
he thought the crowd was as young as I did....

After an interesting intermission where Big Black Bouncers threw out
young white punks, Government Issue cruised out.  They were in the mood
for some rocking, and with the amount of diving going on, so was the
crowd.  They had mechanical problems during the show since their was
stage diving going on constantly.  Saw a few 10 foot dives
though...real nice looking. They played a few songs from their latest
LP, "The Fun Just Never Ends"...good strong set.

After much waiting and not being allowed to go outside (man, how sleazy),
the DK's finally arrived.  Jello started out with a few political 
comments about the shape of the world.  He was his rational self....
they were hot, starting with "Nazi Punks", then moving into some
new songs as well some songs from the first album, Jello was a master,
weaving political statements through hardcore tunes, driving his point
home.  There were problems when the bozos started throwing beer cans at 
the band, finally succeding in hitting Klaus in the head.  Jello went 
into an tirade against asshole like that ("With assholes like that you
need police...We don't need assholes like that"). Finally the crowd
pointed out the guilty party, and held him while the bouncers came
and dragged (yea man dragged) him out, tossing him (double yea) out
onto the pavement....then the show went on. And they were amazing.
I didn't think you would be able to understand what Jello was
screaming, but sure enough you could. Klaus is amazing on guitar,
standing straight and just cranking away....

Morale: If the DK's come to town, go see them. See them first for
the band, and second to watch the people. Humans as a whole are a
riot to watch when they're in a crowd.

t