Hard to believe that after nearly fifty years of leaving their mark on American hardcore, Black Flag had never once played Paris, so when two nights at Petit Bain were finally announced, the tickets disappeared almost instantly. The band that showed up, though, was very different beast from the one that emerged from the 80's hardcore punk scene. Greg Ginn, last man standing from the original lineup, now leads a much crew of much younger musicians into battle: Bryce Weston on drums, David Rodriguez on bass, and Max Zanelly handling vocals. That last bit is worth pausing on, not just because this roster is close to four decades younger than Ginn, but because for the first time in the band’s long, chaotic history, Black Flag is fronted by... a woman. That’s right. A woman. In Black Flag. Cue the purist outrage and the gatekeepers pearl-clutching.
Right off the bat, it's clear that this choice is not a mere novelty implemented to get people talking. With each song, the new faces are earning their place in the band. Yes, they are extremely young, but since when is that a bad thing when you're playing punk rock? And the singer gender-swap actually gives some of those old lyrics a clever new twist. What matters is intent and intensity, and on that front, they deliver. No question. And that's the real treat of the show: the setlist. The band played two blistering 45-minute sets , an unrelenting avalanche of furious hardcore punk rock tunes, all of them classics, presented for the first time on a Parisian stage. Such legendary tunes as "Gimme Gimme Gimme," "Rise Above," "Clocked In," "Fix Me," "Six Pack," "Room 13," "Can't Decide" and "Nervous Breakdown..." the list goes on. It was ferocious, fast, loud, and fun.
Things change, and yeah, that’s a hard truth for some old-school punks to swallow. But Black Flag’s lineup has been in flux since day one. In that sense, this incarnation is nothing new. These songs still sound alive, they still sound urgent, and they still sound pissed off. They still sound like punk rock.
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