People dusted off their finest green plaid shirts and leprechaun hats Saturday as the sold-out, inaugural Lucky Punks kicked off.
Lucky Punks is the newest venture from Punk in the Park, in collaboration with Brew Ha Ha Productions it kicked off at the original site for Punk in the Park, Oak Canyon Park in Irvine.
Hoist the Colors was a great way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day weekend, as they bring a sound combining punk rock with Irish folk music.
Lead singer Josh Linden, who also plays mandolin, kicked things off with “2nd City” followed by “Animals.” Linden said, “We just finished recording an album, like five days ago.
This is a new song called, ‘Linear.’” Their violin player switched to accordion for the melodic, “Mourners,” and then they closed their set with the upbeat “Little Rebel.”
As Pulley took the stage, lead singer Scott Radinsky addressed the crowd, “We’re Pulley; thanks for coming early,” and they went into “Working Class Whore.” “The Ocean Song” and “Hooray for Me” featured excellent guitar riffs from Trey Clinesmith, and fellow founding member Mike Harder.
Musically they sounded great, but there were some issues with Radinsky’s mic, so he responded by turning his monitors around to face the audience.
The crowd began the “whoas” for “Insects Destroy,” which Radinsky acknowledged by saying, “I see some lips moving, some singing going on. Not bad for 12 o’clock guys, give yourselves a hand.”
Leading with a drum intro from The Clash’s “Janie Jones,” The Briggs opened with “Wasting Time,” but they did absolutely none of that.
Taking full advantage of their short set, they used every second to squeeze in as much music as they could.
If you’ve never seen them play live before, front-man Joey “Briggs” LaRocca is an absolute Energizer Bunny of hyper energy that comes out in his performance.
They played “3rd World War” as a huge pit started opening up to Derek Envy’s frenetic bassline. They did a cover of Cock Sparrer’s “Because You’re Young” before their anthem to their hometown, “This is L.A.,” which saw LaRocca sing from the barricade.
The Defiant, led by lead singer Dicky Barrett in a shiny green Boston Celtics jacket, opened with “Everybody Loves Me.” Barrett dedicated “No Nothing” to the city of Altadena, where he lived for 15 years and that was largely affected by the fires in January.
LaRocca, who was playing double duty, switched to acoustic guitar for “Where Did Lady Liberty Go?” took lead vocals for the bridge. Barrett addressed the controversy that he and his band have received and stated flat out, “I am not far-right. I’m a lifelong liberal democrat. I’m not MAGA, I’m Not QAnon. I’m just a kid from Boston, Massachusetts.” They covered The Interrupters’ “Take Back the Power” and finished with “Dead Language.”
Street Dogs opened with “Savin Hill” and lead singer Mike McColgan jumped down and sang on the barricades with the crowd. Like fellow Defiant bandmate LaRocca, bassist Johnny Rioux was also playing double duty and took lead vocals for the breakdown in “Not Without a Purpose.”
Rioux kicked off the crowd favorite, “Tobe’s Got a Drinking Problem,” on harmonica before the band and mosh pit exploded.
McColgan said the band is currently touring to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their album, “Back to the World,” and thanked everyone for supporting them all these years, and then played “You Alone” from that very album.
They closed with “Fighter,” which featured an entire breakdown that turned into a cover of The Clash’s “Guns of Brixton.”
Lagwagon guitarist Chris Flippin and bassist Joe Raposo have been out of action part of the last few years, but the whole gang was here Saturday and ripped through 10 songs as only they can.
They opened with fan favorite “Violins,” before the deeper track, “Wind in Your Sail.” They played “After You My Friend,” featuring a light jazz breakdown that saw lead singer Joey Cape dancing.
With everything our state has been through in 2025 they played the aptly titled, “Surviving California.”
Cape welcomed on Erin Burkett to sing the last verse of the song for which she’s named, “E Dagger.” Raposo began the bass intro to my favorite Lagwagon song, “Sleep.” They closed with “May 16” which saw the song’s conclusion with a gnarly solo by guitarist Chris Rest, as he then lined up in the front of the stage alongside Flippin and Raposo.
The Aquabats! came out rocking their black superhero costumes, donning green-hooded capes for “Shark Fighter” as giant inflatable sharks were thrown into the audience.
During “Look at Me, I’m a Winner!” Eaglebones Falconhawk played guitar solo standing on a gear trunk as two stagehands wheeled him around the stage.
Lead singer MC Bat Commander said, “Here’s a song from our last album. It came out last year, it’s called, ‘No Rewind!’” “Fashion Zombies” saw an inflatable Frankenstein’s Monster.
They played easily the hardest punk song I’ve ever heard them play entitled, “Where Is Walter Fang?!” that brought out an abominable snowman that terrorized the stage.
They finished up with “Pool Party!” and in all, it was just a lot of fun.
Almost immediately there was a change in the air and energy that just felt rowdier and more aggressive.
It was no coincidence this coincided exactly as Dead Kennedys began playing, opening with “Forward to Death” and “Winnebago Warrior” seeing some of the wildest pits all night.
Lead singer Skip Greer said, “Here’s a policy I think we can all get behind,” and as they kicked into “Kill the Poor” followed by the classic, “Too Drunk to Fuck.”
At times bassist Klaus Flouride and guitarist East Bay Ray seem to play like the same 20-something punks playing hardcore punk at breakneck speed, such as on “Let’s Lynch the Landlord.”
They’ve never wavered from their scathing commentary on government. Dead Kennedys played a song that is now about as relevant as it was when it was written, “Nazi Punks Fuck Off.” A near-riot size pit erupted from the crowd as the band played, “California Über Alles” before finishing with “Holiday in Cambodia.”
Bad Religion’s set had a really nice walk through their discography touching on a whopping dozen of their albums. Opening with “Recipe for Hate” and “Supersonic,” they then played “You Are (the Government)” for the first time since 2018. Lead singer Greg Graffin said, “Here’s our dance number,” and they played “Struck a Nerve.” I was happy to see them play some of their later, mellower songs like the Brian Baker-led “My Sanity.”
“I Want to Conquer the World” featured a sick double bass drum outro by Jamie Miller. A red light bathed the stage as Jay Bentley began the ominous bass intro to “Fuck Armageddon… This Is Hell,” however they would only get a few seconds in before the show was halted for about 10 minutes due to an injury in the pit.
They finished the song eventually and played “Fields of Mars,” “True North,” and then “Parallel” for the first time in 27 years.
They ended really strong with “21st Century (Digital Boy),” my favorite, “Generator,” the radio-friendly “Infected,” and finally the aptly titled, “Cease,” a song they haven’t played since 2008.
They took the shortest break I have ever seen, and then bassist Jay Bentley announced, “We’ve only got time for one more.”
They closed out a really special set, and an end to a memorable holiday weekend with, “American Jesus.”
Lucky Punks was quite the success on this end, so I look forward to its return in 2026.
