For concert of the year though, I’m gonna have to throw out MDC at the Domino Room. It was their second time in Bend; first time was the tail end of ’08 at Player’s. The Players show was quite special in its way; it was a blast, Dave Dictor took the band out to to the parking lot for an acoustic set for the punk rock minors unable to get in. For the Domino show though, they had Ron Posner who wasn’t at the Players gig; for this style of music, it always makes more sense to have the original guitar player and this gave the band 75% of the original lineup (missing Mikey The Offender Donaldson who died a few years ago) which is quite a lot for a band that formed in ’79.

It seemed weird to think of MDC existing outside of the 80′s, much less as still a band in ’09, but it was an utter hoot. They sounded as good as anyone could reasonably hope. Played a lot of old stuff, obviously, but threw in enough new songs to not sound like a band living in the past. Was fun to watch them and think about just how much an influence they’ve had; even The Dead Kenneyds cited MDC as a big influence. Dave Dictor was available and social for anybody who wanted to meet him and is among the nicest people in punk rock.

I was a little disappointed in the Ween show though. I’m sure this is entirely unfair. On its own it was a great show, I had a great time, I’m glad I went, and if it was the first time I’d seen them I’m sure I’d be raving about it, but that first time was so good, it’s too easy to rank this year’s appearance as easily the second best show they’ve played in Bend.