Descendents, The Lizards, The Shorts @ The Gov, Adelaide 8/6/2026
What a way to top off the long weekend than with a barnstorming gig from punk rock royalty the Descendents. Some might have been nestled up in front of the TV with the heater cranked full but for others it was a wild night at The Gov celebrating thirty years of Everything Sucks. Released back in 1996 Everything Sucks is highly regarded in the genre and their own catalogue proving to be one of those much revered and pivotal album. Their punk rock spirit is captured with its urgency and directness making a bold statement which they have done right throughout their career.
Originally released in 1996, Everything Sucks, remains a pivotal release in not only the band’s catalogue but in the genre they helped define. The album captured the urgency and directness that has underpinned Descendents’ influence since their beginning way back in 1978! Fast toward to Adelaide 2026, this was our chance to celebrate this iconic album.
“We’re the boys from the Mallee,” was the sentiment echoed by drummer Brodie Glen of The Shorts who were a great addition to the bill. I’m a thousand percent certain they would have picked up a stack of new followers who were impressed with what they experienced. Opening with “Sharks” they have a war chest of great songs to draw on including the likes of Gerard Said, Silo, Flatlands, Burning Question and set closer Mambo Factory. Nobody either would have been expecting a punked up version of Journey’s Any Way You Want It. Yep, “that’s how you start a school night”. Even Milo from the Descendents was in the crowd next to us looking impressed with what he saw.
The Lizards are another Adelaide who have built a solid reputation for a killer live show and were the perfect fit for this line up. They looked genuinely stoked to be there pushing the banter to one side to cram as much in thirty minutes as they could. Arguably a band who have enormous upside and could have a crack at achieving bigger things. Plenty of set highlights but my favs were Directions, Beyond Me, No Wax, Saved By The Bell and The Fat Controller.
Descendents play at such a frenetic pace that if you blink you will miss it. Thirty three songs in seventy five minutes is great going by any reckoning. With front man Milo Aukerman taking the stage saying “what’s up Adelaide? All the coffee places are shut! What? King’s Birthday? Our guy wants to be a monarch so we’re travelling the world trashing our country cause everything sucks!” You could not script the intro to the title track. It was on, the crowd were jumping, moshing, singing… it was wild! The energy ramped up on I’m The One – old fans, new fans, casual fans, it didn’t matter, we all knew the importance of what was being celebrated. Each song had its moment and it was great to see which ones resonated more with the faithful.
It would be easy to rattle off every song because there were so many good ones from the likes of Clean Sheets to Good Good Things to Myage. I’m not sure what was in Milo’s drink bottle which was strapped to him but I need a dozen of those. Their set was unrelenting, didn’t dip and the same could be said for the crowd surfers that kept security busy. Milo wasn’t afraid to get up front with the crowd either singing from the barrier and reaching out with the microphone for some crowd participation.
With the album done it was a chance to revisit some other classics including She Loves Me, Weinerschnitzel and Hateful Notebook. A good song doesn’t need to be a long song either with the short fire I Wanna Be A Bear and No Fat Burger clocking in at less than a minute.
Even with the show finishing at what seemed like a natural end point there was still plenty of fire in the belly returning for encore featuring Silly Girl, ’Merican and Smile which we were all doing on the way. Can’t wait to celebrate forty years of ALL next year and doing it all over again.
Live Review By Rob Lyon