Bad Nerves and Juicebumps at The Chapel in San Francisco

With their sophomore release (Still Nervous) making waves in the music world, Bad Nerves crossed the pond and hit San Francisco for the second time this year although with a sizeable upgrade in venue size although looking around The Chapel before the show even kicked off it was clear that the room would be busting at the seams.

The evening kicked off with a fiery set by Juicebumps from Oakland. Effect-laden guitars along with keyboards and a thumping beat coupled with an endearing nerdiness and the singer’s odd aversion to red wine ( ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ). Altogether this allows for easy comparisons to DEVO which isn’t a bad thing — the aesthetic meshed perfectly with the tunes and the band certainly gained some new fans in the process. Not sure how a local band like this has stayed below my radar until now but no doubt they deserve to be paid attention to in the future.

By the time Bad Nerves took the stage at 10:15 the general admission floor of The Chapel was absolutely packed and the anticipation was running high. The Ramones blasted through the house PA but the singalong wasn’t enough to distract the fans as the room continued to press towards the stage. A quick glance around highlighted the bands broad appeal; gender, age race all represented with a common thread … anyone that wants to rock out and have a good time.

As the band took the stage and launched into “Don’t Stop” off of their eponymous release, the room went nuts as the floor churned and the fans sang along. Perfectly composed behind his sunglasses, frontman Bobby Bird tried his best to keep his cool but it was nye impossible to ignore the mayhem directly in front of him. Taking obvious cues to their influences, the rest of the band adeptly delivered the tunes with aplomb, doing the recordings more than justice and giving them life beyond the recordings.

Stopping only briefly to sign a fan’s onion (you read the right), the band managed to cram 20 songs into their 60 minute set, split between the two albums although in an unusual move playing USA for a second time during the encore, firmly planting the Bad Nerves flag on US soil with, “baby we are here!”

By the look on the faces from the crowd as they spilled onto the Valencia Street sidewalk smiling ear-to-ear, the hype around Bad Nerves is most certainly warranted. It’s pretty much a guarantee that you’re not going to see them in a venue this size ever again.

Setlist