{"id":328404,"date":"2026-05-22T21:49:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T21:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/328404\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T21:49:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T21:49:22","slug":"pennywise-and-circle-jerks-at-the-house-of-blues-anaheim-ca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/328404\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennywise and Circle Jerks at the House of Blues Anaheim, CA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Punk rock legends Pennywise and Circle Jerks took over the House of Blues Anaheim alongside H2O and DFL for two nights (May 16\u201317), celebrating the venue\u2019s 25th anniversary. Originally opened on January 12, 2001, at Downtown Disney with Lit, the House of Blues operated there until 2016 before reopening at GardenWalk on February 28, 2017, with Social Distortion. Given Orange County\u2019s deep punk roots, a lineup like this felt especially fitting for the milestone. Notably, both Circle Jerks and Pennywise trace their origins back to Hermosa Beach, CA.<\/p>\n

Following opening sets from DFL and H2O, Circle Jerks hit the stage. The band initially announced reunion shows in 2019 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of their seminal hardcore album Group Sex, but those plans were delayed until September 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

That return marked their first performances together in over a decade. Since then, Circle Jerks have stayed active, including a 2022 West Coast run with The Adolescents and nearly 300 shows played since 2021. The current lineup features co-founders Keith Morris (vocals) and Greg Hetson (guitar), alongside bassist Zander Schloss\u2014three-quarters of their final pre-hiatus lineup\u2014and drummer Joey Castillo (formerly of Queens of the Stone Age and Scott Weiland\u2019s band). Morris also formed OFF! in 2009, while Hetson spent nearly three decades in Bad Religion.<\/p>\n

Formed in 1979, Circle Jerks released Group Sex just a year later\u2014a blistering, sub-16-minute statement\u2014followed by another classic, Wild in the Streets. Those two albums remain the only releases featuring all four original members. The band would go on to release four more records, with 2024 marking the 30th anniversary of their final studio album, Oddities, Abnormalities, and Curiosities.<\/p>\n

At House of Blues, Circle Jerks tore through 22 songs in under an hour, including \u201cWild in the Streets,\u201d \u201cBeverly Hills,\u201d and \u201cLive Fast Die Young.\u201d They also paid tribute to their roots with four Black Flag covers: \u201cWasted,\u201d \u201cRevenge,\u201d \u201cNervous Breakdown,\u201d and \u201cFix Me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pennywise closed the night, kicking off with \u201cHomeless\u201d and delivering a 19-song set. Highlights included their most-streamed track \u201cF*ck Authority,\u201d with the band wrapping things up on a high note with \u201cStand by Me\u201d and fan favorite \u201cBro Hymn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Formed in 1991, Pennywise has released 12 albums, most recently Never Gonna Die (2018). The band\u2019s core lineup includes Jim Lindberg (vocals), Fletcher Dragge (guitar), and Byron McMackin (drums), with bassist Randy Bradbury\u2014who stepped in for original bassist Jason Thirsk in 1992 and again following his passing in 1996\u2014rounding out the group. During Lindberg\u2019s hiatus from 2009 to 2012, he formed The Black Pacific, while Pennywise recorded All or Nothing (2012) with vocalist Zoli T\u00e9gl\u00e1s. Since Lindberg\u2019s return, the band has continued as one of punk\u2019s most enduring live acts.<\/p>\n

Pennywise setlist night 1:<\/p>\n

Homeless
Peaceful Day
Straight Ahead
Wouldn\u2019t It Be Nice
Same Old
My Own Country
My God
Dying to Know
The World
F*ck Authority
Cover Song
Pennywise
Broken
Society
Perfect People
Living For Today
Alien
Stand By Me
Bro Hymn<\/p>\n

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Photos by Alex Kluft<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Punk rock legends Pennywise and Circle Jerks took over the House of Blues Anaheim alongside H2O and DFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328405,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":["post-328404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}