Teenage Bottlerocket / the Copyrights / Lonewolfe

After opening gigs for Pennywise and NOFX, Teenage Bottlerocket returned to Winnipeg for a headlining set. Thankfully the band can pull off being in the full spotlight.

Dressed in black pants and black band shirts (drummer Brandon Carlisle was actually wearing a Propagandhi one) the guys hit the stage to Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling" blasting and then launched into "Skate or Die," one of their most well-known tracks.

By that point, the Windsor was decently packed, and around ten people were moshing for almost the entirety of the set. To get the energy level pumping even more, the guys had their friend, Clint, jump around onstage in a skull mask holding up a big sign with the band's skull and cross bones logo. The guys themselves played about as well as in the past, and bassist Miguel Chen still stands around making weird faces as he always does.

Despite releasing a new record called Tales from Wyoming in March, the guys didn't spend too much time on new material, choosing instead to play a diverse set with a little bit of everything; "Radio," "Blood Bath at Burger King," "Mutilate Me" and "Welcome to the Nuthouse" were all older tracks that made the cut. The band's live version of "On My Own" was also spiced up with portions of Van Halen's "Panama," the Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop" and Rush's "Spirit of the Radio" sprinkled throughout. Instead of having a traditional encore, the band just closed things off with "So Far Away" as Clint returned onstage to parade the sign around one last time.

After being a band for over a decade, the Copyrights finally made their Winnipeg debut before Teenage Bottlerocket, and were met with a warm welcome. The band kicked things off with "Slider," the first track off Report, their latest record (released last summer through Red Scare Industries). The band played a bunch of songs off that one plus a decent mix of older tunes, such as "Pentagram," "Shit's Fucked" and "Crutches." The Carbondale, Illinois quartet reminds one of the Dopamines, and specializes in super catchy and super short pop-punk jams, just like Teenage Bottlerocket. Another highlight of the set was simply watching bassist/vocalist Adam Fletcher, because although he stays in one place, his face just comes alive as he sings the songs with overwhelming emotion.

Kicking the night off was Lonewolfe, essentially a Winnipeg supergroup composed of guitarist/vocalist Ian Lodewyks from Kids on Fire and the Noble Thiefs, bassist Martin LaFrenière from Clipwing and drummer Joel Leonhardt from Clipwing and Triggers. The hard rock-influenced punk trio haven't released a lot of material and said they've only played eight shows over the last two years, but they were still really tight and managed to deliver a decent set despite LaFrenière's amp cutting out. The guys kicked off with "Won't Apologize" and also tossed in a stellar cover of "Holy Shit!" by Against Me! before closing down their short set.