There was a feeling of togetherness at the Regent Theater on a Friday evening in May, a genuine vibe of punk family. Let's face it--no casual punk fans are venturing out to see English Oi! pioneers the Cockney Rejects in 2025. No, the people at the Regent for this show were lifers. It was a mixed bag of young and old, male and female, various cultures. A Cockney Rejects crowd is anything but one-dimensional. But the one thing they have in common is a commitment to punk.
There was a long list of openers and we got to the Regent in time to see the last two -- Castillo and The Voids (pictured right). Both were appropriately riotous, noisy, and with a few gems on the setlist. If the job was to warm up the crowd for the Rejects while earning a few new fans, then it was a case of job well done.
But nobody was upstaging the Rejects. It had somehow passed us by that Toy Dolls man Olga is now playing guitar for the CRs--vocalist Stinky Turner is the one remaining OG, and he assembled a new Rejects lineup in 2024. But Stinky, Olga, bassist JJ Kaos (Last Resort, Anti-Nowhere League) and drummer Ray Dust (The Business, Argy Bargy) are a formidable presence.
The setlist was perfect. Opening with "Flares 'n' Slippers," they blasted through "We Are the Firm," "Are You Ready to Ruck," and "Bad Man" with no small amount of joy. Stinky did his shadow boxing thing, the veteran football/soccer warrior that he is. And when he introduced bonafide classic "The Greatest Cockney Rip Off" as a singalong, the crowd didn't let him down.
That crowd, incidentally, didn't give the band a moment's peace. There was barely a second where at least one future stagediver wasn't up there with them, throwing sweaty limbs around and yelling into the mics. Hey, that's punk!
They ended with their version of West Ham F.C.'s anthem "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles," and then their trademark "Oi! Oi! Oi!" Everyone then spilled out onto the Downtown Los Angeles street, drained and sweat-soaked, but very, very happy.
