KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas at the Gibson Amphitheatre is pretty legendary around Southern California. The radio station’s charity event brings together seemingly all the big rock bands who have put out new music throughout the year. Night one has the hard and punk rock, while night two showcases the more alternative and indie bands.
The Saturday night show on Dec. 11 went on for almost six hours, with eight bands playing before headliners Social Distortion and Smashing Pumpkins. A Day to Remember were the first onstage, and did a good job of setting the mood for the rest of the night. Switchfoot surprised me with a really engaging and crowd-pleasing set, complete with the lead singer leaving the stage and performing a song immersed in fans at the back of the theatre.
Anberlin and The Dirty Heads were entertaining, the high point of their sets being when they played their radio hits. Cake, a band I love, was definitely one of the highlights of the night. Its music seemed to translate to the crowd the best of any band up to that point.
Bad Religion sounded great as well, and was the first group that really got people in the audience crazy. Jimmy Eat World sounded cookie-cutter perfect, then My Chemical Romance took the stage and shook up people’s complacency with Gerard Way’s direct interaction with the audience and magnetic personality. Next was Social Distortion, my personal favorite.
Lead singer Mike Ness was dressed like he was from the 1930s, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a rocker in his 40s that has remained so simply cool and not outdated. The Smashing Pumpkins closed out the night with a set that started out accessible, playing a lot of hits, but lasted too long, to the point that only true fans of the band left happy. Some of the bands left me wanting much more of them, while for others, the 25 minutes they were allotted actually seemed a bit too long. But in the end, there was definitely something to please everyone.