The Misfits - 10.15.07 - The Orange Peel - Asheville, North Carolina

With the recent release of the remake of John Carpenter's "Halloween", as revisioned by Rob Zombie, it's perfect timing for this post about another recent ghoulish event. Remakes and reissues aren't always the same, or as good...sometimes they are able to somehow eclipse the original, but not very often....none come to mind right now. There are many remakes of movies and plenty of re-issues of old albums, complete with demos, out-takes and bonus materials to make it worth your while to buy (but you know you gotta have'em 'cause you're a super fan). Then there are totally new recantations of older products, acts and art. In this case, I am talking about the Misfits, and their "30th Anniverscary Fiend Fest" Tour.

The Misfits for all intense purposes, to the hardcore old-school fan, do not even really exist any more (naturally). To those of us that weren't always punk, or were too young to experience the original run, or hell, just didn't really care or even know much about them 'til recently, recent tours and merchandising hurricanes and blitzes have finally introduced the world to the Misfits...or at least to their Skull logo, thanks to every band in the word, celebs and Hot Topic, where there are now at least 50 different versions of the Skull shirt available, amongst countless other Misfits knick-knacks, clothes, skateboards, clocks, pencils and anything else that a cool looking skull can be put on and sold to the masses for more than a modest DIY price that it was all conceived around.

The Misfits of today are Jerry Only, Robo and Dez Cadena (both members of Black Flag as well). Long gone are the days of the "classic" lineup of Misfits: Jerry Only, Robo, Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein (Jerry's brother) and a young, unknown and much lankier punk from Jersey by the name of Glenn Danzig (who is he again?). Just because it wasn't Danzig and all of the original boys, and despite the mall punks that keep the Misfits (merchandising) legacy going, Jerry and company can still put a show on!

They came out and didn't let up 'til there was nothing left. Opening with seasonal favorite Halloween, the Misfits tore through most of their classics from 20 years ago...or more. They managed to sneak some of the newer ones in as well, like American Psycho and Dig Up Her Bones, but most of the show was a greatest hits collection, minus Where Eagles Dare. They played probably 20 songs, including Skulls, We Are 138, She, Teenagers From Mars, Hollywood Babylon, I Turned Into a Martian, Horror Business, London Dungeon, Die Die My Darling and Astro Zombies. I think they played Bullet, but I can't remember for sure. I don't think that they had an actual setlist- Jerry would shout something out and they would play it. They didn't play anything off of their newest release "Project 1950". I thought that they might play their cover of Bobby "Boris" Pickett's Monster Mash, since it's getting close to Halloween and all, but alas, they did not.

Dez sang Black Flag's Six Pack and Rise Above, which was really cool to hear him sing and play them, let alone just to hear them in general.

After the show ended, pretty much immediately, Jerry came back out on stage and signed autographs, took pictures and hung out for at least 30 or 45 minutes. I didn't stick around much longer after he signed a cd book for me and took this picture with me:

Say what you will, all you old-schoolers and hardcore Misfits fans...but the show rocked. Aside from it being the Jerry Only show (yes, he vamped enough during the show, flexing his muscles and doing rockstar poses), it was awesome to hear the songs that I've been listening to for a while, and that so many others have worshipped for so long. If you get the chance to check them out and you aren't too snobby about the Misfits not really being the Misfits anymore, go check them out. You may not have another chance...and besides, who knows when Danzig will play anymore Misfits songs, especially under the guise of The Misfits.

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