Only recently I became aware that Jello Biafra is finally back with a new band. All the spoken word and collaborations he had done with other cool musicians after DK split were great, but it was about time we saw him fronting his own band again. It all gets even more rewarding since Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine are a great five-piece that sound a lot like the Dead Kennedys, only heavier and with a fair touch of Metal.

At 9:30pm the band hit the stage, and the bass followed by guitars and then the drums, started to make some noise for a minute, before the first new song ‘The Cells That Will Not Die’ kicked in. There was still no sign of Jello, but after a few seconds he jumped from behind the curtain – wearing a doctor’s coat and surgical gloves soaked in fake blood – driving the crowd mad. It didn’t take long before beer began to be thrown at him, who didn’t even blink and carried on with his sung diatribes in his usual hypnotic way.

There was a lot of talking between most songs, which made some people occasionally shout “make some noise!” or “play some rock’n’roll!”, but that didn’t seem to bother him at all and he wouldn’t stop talking. I actually found that great because it only enriched the performance as a whole, and it didn’t get boring for a second. After about 4 new songs, ‘California Übber Alles’ started without warning and made the venue tremble. Its updated lyrics kept the piece as relevant as ever and sure enough California’s governor Arnie got his share of piss taking.

Other great new tunes were bashed, such as ‘Clean as a Thistle’, ‘New Feudalism’ and ‘I Won’t Give Up’ before Jello said “I’m so damn old I remember when Punk was something new” and the second DK hymn started; ‘Let’s Lynch The Landlord’. That was again another great version of old material and it felt great because I thought I would never see that one live. I mean, I had seen the Dead Kennedys live about 8 years ago, but that was like going to your friend’s birthday party and realizing everybody’s there but him…