I only saw Mike Ness once, and that’s when Social Distortion played the Warped Tour back in 1997. I had the choice between seeing The Descendents or Social D but I couldn’t get over to other stage in time so I had to stick around for Social Distortion. I wasn’t really a fan at the time but now I am. I just didn’t listen to Mike Ness and Social Distortion back then but glad I finally listened to his albums. This time around, he was back to play songs from his solo albums and he did a few honky tonk versions of Social D songs like “Story of my Life.” That was just one of the many highlights of the evening, and I loved when he played “Don’t Think Twice,” “Ballad of the Lonely Man,” “Rest of Our Lives,” “Charmed Life,” and “Ring of Fire.”

(more…)

Jesse Dayton opened up for Mike Ness Thursday night at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza in New York City. When the band went on, the crowd was still strolling in. By the end of the set, most of the crowd was there and appreciated Jesse Dayton’s rockabilly country music. Jesse hails from Austin Texas and had a lot of funny banter in between the songs. I like rockabilly and can tolerate country rock sometimes, but only honky tonk stuff like Johnny Cash and Hank Williams. Jesse Dayton fits into that realm as well and like how he played on an edge. He was poking fun at line-dancing and saying he had people that were going to pick them off with a sniper rifles. I liked his music though, I might have to check out his albums.

(more…)