LIVE: DESCENDENTS – Perth | Boorloo, 9 June 2026

LIVE: DESCENDENTS – Perth | Boorloo, 9 June 2026
With The Points & Running Out Of Nuns
The Astor Theatre, Perth, Western Australia
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
Photography by Linda Dunjey

I guess Simon Alexander, when he built The Lyceum Theatre in 1913-14 (it was refurbed in art deco style in 1939 by his son John, then rechristened The Astor in 1941), could not have imagined in his wildest dreams that its sophisticated and stylish rooms would, over a century later, be host to a night of frenetic punk n’ roll such as this.

The crowd itself would probably have been enough to give ol’ mate a coronary and cast him adrift from this mortal coil. The eclectic throng featured a smattering of mohawks and punk-patch festooned battle jackets, a sea of denim and black, a myriad of black goth fashion and many a brightly-dyed-hair teen, as well as a healthy amount of parents chaperoning younger kids, all deeply immersed in the rock n’ roll on offer and hollering at the top of their lungs.

The festivities started with local rapscallions Running Out Of Nuns ironically featuring no shortage of nuns at all, given the trio have a unique enough world view that they wear nuns’ habits whilst performing, some lanky dude dressed as an alcoholic priest throwing himself around the stage in various degrees of undress for reasons neither explained nor out of place.

Their aggressive and mostly catchy heavy grooves are as left of centre as their stage clobber: there’s a punked up boogie about pelicans; a cover of Backstreet Boys’ Backstreet’s Back; a sea shanty about “three salty boys” full of drugs on a boat; one about needing to find some Japanese toothpaste; another about accidentally killing a vicar, which might have been inspired by an Ozzy Osbourne story; even a song about Frank Blackmore, the inventor of the modern roundabout.

It’s all completely ridiculous, massively tongue in cheek, wildly entertaining – and really good. It takes a lot of rehearsals to be tight enough so you can look like you’re goofing off and just don’t care. Their set is solid proof that nuns just wanna have fun.

Next up is The Points, a young quartet with an altogether more frenetic sound and a healthy pinch of aloof nihilism. They deliver their punchy punky set like a collection of whirlwinds let loose upon the venue. It’s endearingly chaotic and sweaty and only a few songs in – during DIY – the crowd has swelled and a small moshpit started to form.

Through I Need A War, debut single Insects, Taste Of Defeat and more their drummer and guitarist are machines of chaos, completely locked into the groove while the bass player is strangely calm, tying things down in the eye of the hurricane. The frontman (apparently names are so not punk rock, so I can’t find much info online) is a charismatic force of nature. With “Fuck The Points and fuck you” scrawled over his torso in texta, he’s in the photo pit almost as often as he’s onstage. The crowd love the energy and the noise and are officially warmed up and ready for the headliners.

Middle aged punks who never got bitter and nasty, Descendents are happy to rock on and off as best suits them nowadays. Drummer and mainstay Bill Stevenson, singer Milo Aukerman, bassist Karl Alvarez and guitarist Stephen Egerton – the latter two have been with the band since the mid-80s – are all 62 or 63 now, but show no signs of giving up any time soon, delivering a massive thirty five songs in around 75 hectic minutes.

There’s not a hint of pretence about them and little attempt to put on a show, as such. KISS they are not. Here, the music does the talking, so it’s just a little introductory small talk, then song after song after song after song, relentlessly, until they need to take a breath.

Of course, being peak punk, some of these songs are pretty short anyway – No Fat Burger and I Like Food, for instance – but even the ultra-catchy classics understay their welcome more than overstay.

These guys all but invented US pop punk, laying the foundation for the likes of Blink 182, Green Day and – errr – Avril Lavigne to follow (wait – what?!), and raucous and exuberant favourites Everything Sux, I’m The One, Clean Sheets, Good Good Things, When I Get Old and I Don’t Want To Grow Up are all irrepressible singalongs crammed with their infamous sense of humour, while the mosh pit and crowd surfers raged front of stage.

The short and puerile Eunuch Boy sees Milo comment “somebody wanted us to play the whole fucking record so you ended up with that!” and indeed, by the end of the main set they’ve played 1996’s Everything Sucks in its entirety, interspersed with a handful of other tracks from their catalogue.

With the main set over in just over an hour, an encore is inevitable, and it’s another exercise in relentless awesomeness. Sour Grapes and the revved up pop of Silly Girl precede the acerbic ‘Merican before proceedings come to a close with favourite Smile.

Descendents cram a lot into their 75 or so minutes, and it’s a sweaty, smiling crowd that walk out into the cold night air, satisfied that both band and crowd had given their all for rock n’ roll.

Set List:
Everything Sux
I’m the One
Coffee Mug
Rotting Out
Myage
Hope
Clean Sheets
Sick-O-Me
Caught
Good Good Things
No Fat Burger
When I Get Old
Doghouse
Get the Time
My Dad Sucks
She Loves Me
I Don’t Want to Grow Up
Weinerschnitzel
No, All!
Hateful Notebook
I Wanna Be a Bear
We
Eunuch Boy
Bikeage
I’m Not a Punk
This Place
I Won’t Let Me
I Like Food
Suburban Home
Thank You

Encore:
Sour Grapes
[unknown]
Silly Girl
‘Merican
Smile

Category: Live Reviews, Photo Galleries