Fear at the Gramercy Theatre

Lee Ving

Lee Capallero was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where his mother taught him to play her mandolin at age four. He studied guitar at age 11, and by the late 1960s, under the name Lee Ving, he joined the Sweet Stavin Chain Blues Band. Ving then moved to New York and formed the band Daybreak. In the mid-1970s, he moved to Los Angeles, California, and finally tasted national success with the seminal punk rock band Fear, which he founded in 1977. In 1981, comedian John Belushi secured Fear a gig on Saturday Night Live, during which slam dancers caused a reported $20,000 in damages. Fear disbanded in 1993, and for the next two years, Ving led a band called Lee Ving's Army in Austin, Texas. This band became the new Fear lineup in 2015. In 2018, Ving reunited with two early members of Fear, lead guitarist Philo Cramer and drummer Spit Stix, and added former AFI bassist Geoff Kresge and former Viva Hate guitarist Eric Razo. Ving has been Fear's only constant member.

Fear's current tour consists almost exclusively of performances of songs from the band's 1982 debut album, The Record, plus a handful of additional songs from the 1980s and 1990s. Although more than 35 years have passed since The Record was released, Ving and the band played the vintage songs with the same fire and abandon tonight at the Gramercy Theatre. The difference now was that the new and more professional lineup injected additional precision and clarity to the volatile songs. Thankfully, the evolution did not sacrifice any of the original urgency and explosive energy. The only liability was that with almost the entire performance pivoting on one album, the band seemed stuck in 1982. Could Fear compose new material that would have similar impact? One could not tell. For the audience, living in the present mandated a journey to the past.

Visit Fear at www.fearleeving.com.

Setlist:

1. Fuck You Let's Rodeo
2. Honor and Obey
3. Let's Have a War
4. Beef Bologna
5. Camarillo
6. I Don't Care About You
7. New York's Alright If You Like Saxophones
8. Gimme Some Action
9. Foreign Policy
10. We Destroy the Family
11. I Love Livin' in the City
12. Disconnected
13. We Gotta Get Out of This Place (The Animals cover)
14. Fresh Flesh
15. Getting the Brush
16. No More Nothing
17. More Beer

Encore:

1. I Believe I'll Have Another Beer