Misfits give new and old fans at The Observatory a most memorable "Static Age"

It was a high-energy show last Thursday at The Observatory. Misfits have been scheduled to play three days and play three classic albums in their entirety. Thursday night was Static Age. It was an all ages show and I would say that it was cool to see all ages actually there. There were some very young teens to people in their 40s and 50s, but there were probably more teens there which was awesome to see that this music still gets to the younger crowd when today, the market is completely saturated with a lot of bad pop/safe music.

There was definitely a lot of youth there and it seemed as though there were some first time show-goers there. At least first time in what could potentially turn into a massive pit. I heard one kid behind me say that he was worried about getting crushed up against the barricade, while his friend soothed him and just told him to brace himself by putting his knee into the barricade so that he did not get squished. I found the moment sweet, yet comical.

The crew was setting up and then the only remaining original member of the band, Jerry Only, was helping the crew set up microphones. He had the iconic devil lock hair and he took the time to shake a couple hands of his fans and ask how they were doing. He seemed very gracious which was nice. Then showtime was about to begin and the smile from his face was gone, and it became focused and intense. Misfits kicked off the show with the first song off the album Static Age. The pit erupted and kept going until the last song was played. Of course when he played songs such as “Last Caress,” “Bullet,” and “138” the crowd got a little more crazy. Jerry and the rest of the Misfits put on one hell of a show that did not let up until the last note was played.

Getting the evening started was a group of female rockers called She Demons. They were pretty fun and played hard. They did a couple hard-rock versions of some classic bubble-gum oldies such as The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” and The Crystals’ “He’s a Rebel.” She Demons put on a very entertaining show that got the crowd nicely primed for the Misfits.

Words & Photography: Wes Marsala