“It was like a religious experience,” said one lifelong Ramones fan, in tears after finally getting to pogo to the song “Cretin Hop” in 2024, along with almost every other Ramones anthem.
Nearly 50 years after being asked to replace drummer Tommy Ramone in The Ramones by Dee Dee Ramone at CBGB’s in New York City, Marky Ramone continues the iconic band’s three-chord legacy in his current project, Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg.
Marky’s band is backed by three Argentine band members who never gave their names on stage and weren’t necessarily trying to mimic Joey, Dee Dee, and Johnny, but sounded eerily close to the real thing.
The show was booked by East Los Angeles backyard-raised independent promoter Ignacio “Nacho” Rodriguera of Nothing Less Booking, and hundreds of punks of all ages showed up, including a handful of punk toddlers.
The openers for Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg were the RamonesCore band from Las Vegas known as Jerk, plus the ‘77-style-power pop heartthrobs Ingrates from “Southwestern” California. Last but not least, there were the captivating garage punk fuzzy ballads performed by Los Angeles-raised songwriter Kate Clover.
Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg started their hour-long set with “Do You Wanna Dance” and ebbed and flowed through classics from the early-to-middle Ramones era, including their later hits, such as “R.A.M.O.N.E.S.” and even an extremely heartfelt rendition of Joey Ramone’s masterpiece, “What a Wonderful World.”
See the entire set list below.
Thank you to Nancy Marie Arteaga for the tickets!
