On November 22nd and 23rd 2025, legendary Oi band, Cock Sparrer played two sold out shows at the Hollywood Palladium.
Have you ever experienced something that you felt you “weren’t supposed to”? Whether it’s something paranormal, shocking, surreal, from another dimension, or like you accidentally found yourself having traveled back in time? While there is a rising scene of newer Oi bands like The New York Hounds and The Chisel, seeing an original band from the 1970’s movement is nearly unheard of nowadays with legends from founding groups like Angelic Upstarts and The Business unfortunately passing away in recent years.
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Of all the original boot-boy skinhead Oi bands from 1970’s England; few have even come close to reaching the cult status that Cock Sparrer has in modern times. Hell at this point, the term “Oi” is almost unanimous with Cock Sparrer nowadays and especially their 1983 no-skips masterpiece of an album Shock Troops. Returning to Los Angeles for the first time in 25 years to completely take over The Hollywood Palladium on November 22nd and 23rd like it was a coup run by unruly ‘77 Rude Boys, this last weekend almost felt like it shouldn’t have happened. It was all too good to be true.
The whole weekend was complete madness, feeling like we were first-hand experiencing the stories of anarchy that Gen-X punks love to rant about when they say the scene is too safe nowadays. When Cock Sparrer announced that these would be their last LA shows ever, I knew this would be my last chance to ever experience Oi music in the way it was meant to be; with a massive riot of dangerous-looking punks and skins coming together to scream along to every word.
JankySmooth basically lived at The Palladium this last weekend to cover both nights, as this truly was a once-in-a-lifetime moment of history that will be talked about for generations. Cock Sparrer were not lying at all when they famously sang in 1983 “We’re coming back to you”. For the true fans that could not miss this rare opportunity, they came back to us even harder than anyone in attendance could have expected.
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Cock Sparrer did choose different first opening acts for each night, but they were extremely selective of the current punk rock scenes that they wanted to represent. Castillo is one of the most prominent acts in Los Angeles’ current Oi scene, consistently appearing as an opener on lineups and even headlining their own shows recently with how quickly they’ve grown. Vocalist and guitarist Alex Zambrano has an incredibly distinct gruff voice that can’t be mistaken for anybody else and it sounds even more powerful filling a live space, even in a room as big as The Palladium.
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Generacion Suicida was the first opening act for the second night, also being a long-standing staple of Los Angeles punk lineups with how many shows they appear on. Representing the Latino side of the working class community similar to Castillo, a clear statement was being made by Cock Sparrer that no “boneheads” and no racist skinheads would be welcomed here. We’re all punks or skins, regardless of language or skin color.
More importantly than identity however, is how much they belonged on this bill with their focus on more traditional Rock N Roll guitars and power-pop vocals. With everyone in punk music nowadays trying to fit into a specific box of hardcore, oi, street punk, etc; Generacion Suicida is a band that truly sounds like no one else and is boldly carving their own path in the LA punk scene. It makes sense that they appear on so many lineups with their raw talent and how versatile their sound is. We are certainly going to be seeing a lot more of them in the future, possibly even breaking out beyond the punk scene with how they manage to be so accessible but incredibly unique at the same time.
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I didn’t think Home Front could possibly impress me any further after how incredible their newest release was (my AOTY personally), but seeing them perform live is in an entirely other universe of its own. Frontman Graeme McKinnon is a wrecking ball of a performer as he sprints across each side of the stage, jumps and stomps after each verse, and really goes out of his way to get the crowd involved. The Oi elements of their music are really turned up to the extreme in a live setting with the group vocals from all band members, but their synthesizers and crooning new-wave moments still find their way in to all of the chaos.
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You would be incredibly hard-pressed to find a band as innovative and forward thinking in the punk genre as Home Front in 2025. While some of their more emotional and melodic new-wave elements may not be the usual speed of Cock Sparrer’s fanbase, they won over the hearts of everybody in The Palladium this last weekend. I can’t imagine there was a single person there who didn’t feel inclined to Google them as soon as they got home. With the commanding dominant energy that Home Front brings to the stage, it almost felt like they headlined the evening as well. They did in my eyes.
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Dillinger Four is an act that has never really been on my radar as I’m not THAT Millennial-core. I went straight from listening to old school punk and Oi into the spinkicking straight-edge brand of modern hardcore, completely skipping the melodic hardcore and Springsteen-influenced emo that many bands in the early 00’s adopted. Regardless of my personal experience with them, their anthemic group vocals and elements of nostalgia were a perfect fit for this bill opening for Cock Sparrer. Their songs are all so infectiously catchy, managing to keep a punk edge while diving deep into power-pop at nearly all times. They did an amazing job at getting the blood in The Palladium flowing and kicking off the sing-along moments that would dominate the rest of the evening.
Even though their music may be technically softer and more poppy than the rest of the bands on the lineup, it didn’t feel that way with how active the dancing and crowd-surfing was during their set. The whole weekend was built around booking bands that are essentially Rock N Roll with a punk edge, rather than just straight-up hardcore punk for example. Dillinger Four is definitely one of the more unique and ambitious bands within this formula, and I’ve still found myself singing some of their songs days later.
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Nobody in the room stayed in-place when the lights of The Palladium turned on and the police siren-emulating guitars of “Riot Squad” pierced throughout the auditorium. I’ve always considered the roots of hardcore to be based around the concept of betrayal. The lyrics of Minor Threat or Black Flag that really get me going are the ones about your friends fucking you over. Betraying the ethical code you’ve set for your mates. All of those hardcore wannabe tough guys have nothing on the betrayal felt in Cock Sparrer’s “Riot Squad”.
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I honestly hated that they opened with “Riot Squad” on both nights because I wanted to experience their uplifting and wholesome identity-embracing anthems before jumping into hating on my childhood friends. Fuck it. We hate the Riot Squad and any lads that joined them. I hate to foreshadow later moments of the setlist, but let’s “Take Em All”. And just maybe, “put ’em against The Wall and shoot ’em”.
The more aggressive tracks of Shock Troops continued with everyone in the room chanting Oi! Oi! Oi! as the opening riff of “Watch Your Back” acted as an MK-Ultra trigger beaconing every skin to the mosh pit. Cock Sparrer is an incredibly political band due to working class struggles being the main focus of their music, but they don’t like Communists and they certainly don’t tolerate Fascists either. Tracks like this one and “I’ve Got Your Number” both have a goal of convincing their listeners not to fall into political traps of false hope and bullshit promises.
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With how divided politics in America are currently and with extreme ideologies becoming more mainstream, these songs could not be any more relevant. Again, considering how much Cock Sparrer bleeds the spirit of England, it feels as if God sent Cock Sparrer here himself for the skins to be able to experience these songs in-person at such a crucial time in America’s history.
The back-to-back-to-back classics only continued further as frontman Colin McFaull belted the opening lyrics to “Working”, which if you can’t tell by its name is basically the anthem for working class punks. When the song came out, the whole street-punk squatter “Decline Of Western Civilization” mindset was at an all time high in the punk scene. Cock Sparrer dared to think differently and basically told the detractors calling them sellouts to piss off with lyrics like “Call me a crook. Call me bent. But I need more than food and rent”. The circle pit was probably the most violent during this one for both nights, being a haven for cathartic release as many punks and skins there did in fact work their asses off all week. This moment of the set really showcased everything that Cock Sparrer stands for, and who they stand for.
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Breaking away from Shock Troops for the middle of the set, Cock Sparrer played the best of the best of their later material, with fans going equally as apeshit for staple songs like “With My Hand On My Heart”, “What’s It Like To Be Old”, and “Because You’re Young”. These songs definitely appeal to the older veteran skins in the audience, but it’s beautiful to see a band grow up alongside their fans like this rather than trying to emulate some false memory of their youth. Although the focus on nostalgia, memories, youth, and the transcendental fear of death in these tracks isn’t as relevant in my life personally and I may not throw these songs on at home, they were some of the best moments throughout the set just based on the sheer passion that Cock Sparrer performs them with. The crowd definitely agreed, with everybody singing along just as much as they were about to during the finale of the set.
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The last 6 songs of the set almost deserve an article on their own, as they saved their best for last and each track flowed into each other flawlessly without any momentum being lost. Starting with their first single “Running Riot”, a surprising choice for the set as this track comes from their days as a Rock N Roll group rather than a punk band. The riff is absolutely infectious however, and the pit was going off like it was the most hardcore song you’ve ever heard. It’s a shame that people don’t go this wild to more barebones Rock N Roll music anymore, and it’s even more of a shame that barebones Rock N Roll music like this doesn’t even exist anymore. This was probably the last chance to experience this sort of raw rocker chaos authentically.
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The previously mentioned “I Got Your Number” followed directly after, getting everybody in The Palladium heated about the lies and false personas that politicians try to feed us. The track is more on the traditional Rock N Roll side similar to “Running Riot” which made it the perfect transition into their heaviest and most aggressive track, “Take Em All”. This was the moment that many in attendance were waiting for, anticipating to absolutely wreck the mosh pit while chanting “Take Em All! Take Em All! Put Em up against the wall and shoot Em! Short and Tall, watch Em fall. Come on boys, take Em all”.
Cock Sparrer and skins in general tend to take on the roles of makeshift troops with their Fred Perry uniforms and the endless number of SHARP (Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice) gangs that exist. This song perfectly embodies that fantasy of a working class takeover and celebrates the violence that would take place in such a situation, in a very tongue-in-cheek manner of course.
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With everyone’s Doc Martens being absolutely torn up and covered in filth after the moshing that just took place, the last 3 songs felt much more like being in a crowded pub drunkenly singing along with your mates. In an absolutely shocking but perfectly executed move, Cock Sparrer chose to embrace this rabid chanting by performing “Where Are They Now?” without any instrumentals for most of the song. Being the first track on Shock Troops, literally everybody there knew every word. The instruments weren’t even necessary, with bodies crowd surfing and stumbling throughout the mosh pit as if the music was actually being played. It’s not even a heavy, or political, or dark song by them. People were just that hyped to have the chance to sing along with Cock Sparrer for one last time.
If the ridiculously involved “acapella” performance of “Where Are They Now?” already had the room’s energy at an all-time high, the spirit of Oi shot through The Palladium’s roof all the way to Mars when drummer Steve Bruce started the intro to “England Belongs To Me”. Obviously, England doesn’t belong to anybody in LA. We’re all cosplaying with our Fred Perry polos, Doc Martens, and suspenders here. This song is the ultimate celebration of the culture that everybody there loves so very much. Punks and skins were rushing the stage and crowd surfing without even thinking about the barrier and security at the front. It was as if everybody believed they would make it on stage to sing with the band. Between this fantasy and everybody in attendance cosplaying as Brits, the delusional euphoria felt at The Palladium was probably the highest it has ever been in the venue’s history. I don’t know how Cock Sparrer managed to pull it off, but it really did feel like England Belonged to LA for that brief blip in time.
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The Palladium was pulsing with the heart of Oi and the heart of England at this point, but we all felt the bittersweet truth that the night was coming to a close. It couldn’t have closed more beautifully with Cock Sparrer’s unofficial anthem “We’re Coming Back”. Unfortunately this was the last time that would be true, as they have confirmed that Sunday’s performance was the last time they would ever play in LA. They made their promise of coming back however, after 25 years of never visiting California. Rumors have it that they didn’t visit for so long due to the amount of riotous behavior and fights that occurred last time they were here, and it’s quite easy to imagine considering how rowdy the crowd was last weekend.
It was apparent that Cock Sparrer felt bad about their absence, and the fact that they will never come back, as they all screamed the chorus acapella-style with the crowd; “And just remember, somewhere out there you’ve got a friend and you’ll never walk alone again”. Even if Cock Sparrer keeps their word of never visiting LA again, this last weekend will forever live in the hearts of everybody who attended. As they promised, we’ll “never walk alone again”.
Words by Danny Ryan
Photos by Jessica Moncrief
