[Update]: This afternoon, singer Mike McColgan issued a statement for the band on their Facebook page about last night's incident. See below on the second page of our post.
The Street Dogs show at Anaheim House of Blues turned into more of a street fight between the band and neo-Nazis. Everything was festive for the St. Paddy's Day concert. Singer Mike McColgan and crew powered through their energized set last night slaying eardrums with incessant punk rock riffs. Revelers dressed as leprechauns while others wore green tees. People moshed, small scuffles broke out but nothing too major. The union-loving band shouted out union members. Only a small number of hands went up, a sad commentary on how beaten down unions are these days!
Good times prevailed onward; that is until skinheads tried to ruin everyone's night. But the Street Dogs weren't about to let that happen–not without a fight.
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The politics of the pit turned fascist and racist about two-thirds way through the band's set. Neo-Nazis took their shirts off revealing their odious tattoos. Before that, the group of about four Nazi skinheads tried to instigate fights and roughhouse people of color in the pit. McColgan saw them and sent out an anti-racist message from the stage.
“Who here believes all men are created equal,” he rallied. The crowd erupted in applause–except for the racist assholes. He continued speechifying against anyone who discriminated against people based on their skin color and not so kindly added that those types of retrograde losers should get the fuck out of their show because it's not 1939 anymore.
See also: What were '80s Skinheads Really Like?
Street Dogs later launched into “Final Transmission,” a song about a kid who joins the military and fights a war overseas only to die. The band sang of bringing the troops home. During the song, neo-Nazis began marching in the pit. One stocky skinhead wannabe Göering squared up to the band taunting them with the Nazi salute. That was too much for guitarist Lenny Lashley. He jumped past McColgan, ex-singer for Dropkick Murphys, and delivered a drop kick of his own to the racist killjoy. The musician took a bass with him into the madness and other anti-racists joined in to kick ass!
The fight continued in the pit and only got worse. Someone (maybe a strategically placed skinhead loser?) grabbed a chair from the second floor and tossed it over the side rail. It fell seemingly in slow motion and struck Lashley leaving him and another entangled punk with gnarly gashes. Security finally separated the neo-Nazis and shoved them out of the House of Blues. The curtains closed but McColgan reassured that the concert would go on…and it did.
Street Dogs closed their set blasting through songs like “Tobe Has a Drinking Problem.” They definitely have a problem with white supremacy at their shows and will throw blows to enforce it. Up with the Street Dogs!
Next page: Video of the fight and Instagram pics of Lashley after it was over
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Here's a video someone posted of the brawl on YouTube this morning. The action starts at 4:45.
We also got a hold of these Instagram pics from bassist Johnny Rioux showing Lashely getting treatment for the bloody gash above his right eye last night. Glad to see he's all better now. Nazi assholes beware!
Update: Earlier this afternoon, Mike McColgan posted this message on the band's Facebook page about last night's events.
At this time I would like to officially address what happened in Anaheim. Last night at our show in Anaheim at the House Of Blues while we were playing our song Final Transmission for a dear departed fan and friend of ours USMC Jordan Stanton when we noticed a group of Neo nazis rough housing and intimidating our fans and throwing up sieg heil salutes in the air. Their very presence, their hateful,bigoted and ignorant ideology is odious to us and completely unacceptable. We with fans, friends and the assistance of security removed them from the crowd and in the process of mitigating them out some of us sustained superficial injuries. We can attribute those injuries only being superficial in nature to the House Of Blues and their exceptional staff, our fans and our friends. After they were removed we continued with our show and finished the show without incident. In closing we submit this no neo nazis are allowed
at our shows. We have always believed in equality and that all people are created equal. We will not suffer or tolerate bigotry in any manifestation. PERIOD!!!!Respectfully Submitted,
Mike McColgan
Street Dogs
See also
10 Punk Albums to Listen to Before You Die
10 Goriest Album Covers
10 Most Satanic Metal Bands
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Gabriel San Román is from Anacrime. He’s a journalist, subversive historian and the tallest Mexican in OC. He also once stood falsely accused of writing articles on Turkish politics in exchange for free food from DönerG’s!