Concert Review: Slightly Stoopid, Bad Brains, The Expendables at the Hollywood Palladium

Note: There is a photo gallery at the end of this post.

Last Saturday, December 6th, the newly re-opened Hollywood Palladium housed a sold out show for Slightly Stoopid, Bad Brains, and The Expendables. The show started around 8 with a performance by The Expendables, a surf rock band from Santa Cruz, California. Their set was relaxing but upbeat, as the smoke above the crowd suggested, but the guitar riffs and the strums of the bass kept everyone on their feet as they crowded around the stage to watch.

The Expendables played a few new songs and quite a few old ones, and ended their set with “Bowl for Two”, a song about marijuana and smoking. Lead singer Geoff Weers asked if anyone was smoking in the crowd, and dedicated the song to them.

Around 9:15pm, punk rock legends Bad Brains came out and tore the house down. Their setlist included songs like “Universal Peace”, “I Against I”, and “Give Thanks and Praises”.

KROQ DJs filled the silence in between sets with songs by Bob Marley and Black Flag, to name a few. Every open area in the Palladium seemed to be filled with concert-goers eager to watch Slightly Stoopid. It was obvious that most (if not all) guests were there specifically for them.

The band came out a little after 10:30 and started immediately with “Slither”, following it with “London Dub”. Large balloons were tossed back and forth between guests as the set progressed. This show was much like what you would see at other shows: crowds, crowd surfing, the drunken women dancing in the pit, and the lazy people lining the walls, there purely to hear music in the flesh.

Bad Brains’ Setlist:
Intro
Attitude
Right Brigade
Sailin On
Regulator
Jah Love
Give Thanks and Praises
Universal Peace
F.V.K.
Popcorn
I & I Survive
Banned in DC
Sacred Love
I Love I Jah / Leaving Babylon
At the Movies
Re-Ignition
Pay to Cum
I Against I

Slightly Stoopid’s Setlist:
Slither
London Dub
Sensi
2 Little 2 Late
Breakdown
Dem Fruits
Digital
Mellow Mood
Babylon is Fallin Punk Stylee
2AM
Closer
Till it Gets Wet
Operation
Ocean
Jet Plane
If This World
Nirvana Cover
Anywhere I Go
UB40
Train
OG Metal

Slightly Stoopid will be playing KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas December 13th. Make sure you get tickets before it sells out!