Social Distortion & Bad Religion Bring Co-Headlining Performance to Las Vegas

Southern California punk legends Social Distortion and Bad Religion will bring an epic one-night-only performance to The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, part of Curio Collection by Hilton, on Saturday, April 13, 2024, as part of their co-headlining American Tour.

The two iconic bands will join forces to bring their signature sounds and beloved catalogs to The Theater stage, showcasing their enduring legacy and influence on the punk rock movement. Tickets go on sale to the public Friday, Dec. 15, 2023, at 10 a.m. PT on AXS.com. 

Bad Religion singer Greg Graffin says "Bad Religion and Social Distortion played together in 1980. Though we evolved in different directions, we both carried the torch of Southern California punk all along the way. Now we're so excited to be on the same stage again."

Jay Bentley, Bad Religion bassist, continues, “43 years after playing our first ever live show with Social Distortion, we're finally going to tour together! That we're both still making music and touring the world is a testament to the staying power of SoCal punk rock!”

In 2022, the two bands shared a short tour of Australia together where plans were hatched to bring the comradery to America. Brian Baker, Bad Religion guitarist, states, “I loved Social Distortion as a kid, and I love ‘em even more now. I am thrilled and honored to be sharing the stage with them this fall. This is one for the history books, folks.” 

Social Distortion frontman Mike Ness comments, “We have also decided in celebration of the 40-year anniversary and re-release of ‘Mommy's Little Monster' that we will be playing the album in its entirety. This should be a very special tour and we are all looking forward to it.” Las Vegas fans can expect an unforgettable experience as these two powerhouses share the stage, delivering raw, unapologetic performances night after night.

The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas is proud to offer an expansive VIP service including open bar packages, private expedited entry, dedicated hosts, merchandise delivery, custom swag, and access to luxury suites and VIP lounges to its guests for an unparalleled live entertainment experience. To learn more about the venue's VIP service or to book, please email TheTheaterVIP@aegpresents.com.

For more information on this performance or for news from The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, visit virginhotelslv.com. Virgin Hotels Las Vegas proudly offers complimentary self-parking. 

About Social Distortion

Here's how you know you've made it in the music business: You've stayed strong for three decades on your own terms, on your own time, by your own rules, and over that time your influence has only grown. Each of your albums has been stronger than your last. You've been brought onstage by Bruce Springsteen because he wanted to play one of your songs. You've seen high times and low ones, good days and tragic days, but every night you give 100%, and every morning you wake up still swinging.

This is the short version of the Social Distortion bio — the long version could be a 10-part miniseries. For many years, the band has all but trademarked their sound, a brand of hard rockabilly/punk that's cut with the melodic, road-tested lyrics of frontman Mike Ness. Their searing guitars and a locomotive rhythm section sound as alive today as they did in '82, as do Ness' hard-luck tales of love, loss, and lessons learned.

"The most common thing I hear is, 'Man, your music got me through some hard times,'" Ness says. "And I just say, 'Me too.'" Hard Times And Nursery Rhymes (produced, for the first time, by Ness himself) is the band's most recent release. Social Distortion experienced a significant amount of firsts in 2011. For starters, Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes debuted at #4 on the Billboard Top 200 and was the highest debut that the band has yet seen. Hard Times was also the #1 Independent Album and the #2 Modern Rock/Alternative Album week of release.

The band also made their late-night television debut when they performed "Machine Gun Blues" on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and later played for Conan on Hard Times' release date. Taking their successes to the road, Social Distortion played European festivals including Reading and Leeds for the first time. They also booked their first tours of Australia and South America. And finally, Social Distortion played Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits Festival, and Coachella – all of these for the first time.

A release of new music is forthcoming in 2024. Social Distortion's patented mix of punk, bluesy rock n' roll, and outlaw country — while also stretching the boundaries of their signature sound is a blend of potent power that appeals to all ages. They are honored to have been able to reach as many people as they have so far. "I write songs for myself, and I hope that other people will like them too," Ness says.

"I think every record you make is showing people what you've learned over the past few years. It's showing people, 'This is what I know.' " Now in their fifth decade, Ness and Social Distortion have officially achieved one of the most non-punk things possible: They've failed to burn out. 

About Bad Religion 

Aside from essentially defining the California half-pipe punk blueprint, Bad Religion has defied the usual trend shifts or values-ditched ubiquities of the usual punk band storyline and morphed along with challenging album after challenging album amid astoundingly consistent touring, retaining their core audience while roping in subsequent generations of anxiously energetic kids.

The band has long settled into the current lineup who have arguably enacted to most muscular Bad Religion to ever grace a stage: Greg Graffin (vocals) and Jay Bentley (bass) join Brian Baker (guitarist since '94), guitarist Mike Dimkich, and drummer Jamie Miller. Bad Religion is in an almost singular position in the history of punk. Having formed right on the heels of the original explosion, they led the West Coast arm of hardcore's birth, adding their melodic riffs, zooming harmonies, and viciously verbose lyrical punch to the basic bash of hardcore.

Then the band continued to expand their template through the ‘80s and into the indebted “neo-punk” sound of the early ‘90s, and weathered the questionable dichotomies of the “alternative rock” era by doing what they've always done – releasing explosive album after album to consistent acclaim from fans and critics. And if you're positive there is no way they could keep doing the same thing all these years, you'd be right. They haven't.

They've continued to throw songwriting and production wrenches into the works so's not to bore themselves or their never-diminishing following. They have released 17 studio albums to their ever-widening audience. The band's rep as socially aware thought-provokers can obscure the fact they've remained one of the most viscerally powerful live bands on the planet, remembering it's the beats and riffs that get your ass off the couch in the first place.

Of course, being stuck to the couch was sometimes inescapable during our last terrible years of COVID fear. So once again leaning into their smarts, Bad Religion concocted an online run of eight, chronologically curated, streaming live show docuseries, recorded at the Roxy in Hollywood as COVID reared its fangs. Two seasons of career-highlighting, fan-thanking ballyhoo, featuring jaw-dropping reminders of the band's development in the face of often simplistic skate punk pigeonholing.

When he's not stomping on some festival stage in front of thousands somewhere, singer Greg Graffin is a professor and author who has released numerous books on history and personal survival. He even garnered the prestigious Rushdie Award for Cultural Humanism from the Harvard Humanist Chaplaincy in 2008. In 2022 Greg released his memoir of growing up in the Punk scene, Punk Paradox.

And in 2021, Bad Religion released its own long-awaited autobiography, Do What You Want: The Story of Bad Religion, credited to, of course, the whole band. While propped up on the band's egalitarian legend, its focus is the long and moshing road of a band who probably would've laughed if you'd told their 20-something selves they'd be celebrating their 43rd anniversary. Laughed, then strapped on their guitars and jumped out on stage again. Being Bad Religion is what they do best; they see no reason to take their foot off the pedal any time soon.

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