Social Distortion keeps the faith

Every time Mike Ness opens his mouth it becomes a fireplace for the disenchanted, and that’s one of the things that makes a Social Distortion concert -- especially in Southern California -- so happily predictable.

Kicking off a seven-week tour that will include 26 performances in Los Angeles and Orange County, Social D’s frontman came out Monday in Anaheim with dozens of red roses and tossed them to the sold-out House of Blues crowd -- ages ranging from about 12 to 65 -- to let it know the Fullerton matador was back, before performing “Dear Lover” to warm up the hometown crowd.

Perhaps it’s that Ness has been a relatively unprolific songwriter, his band having released just six studio albums since starting up in 1978, but there’s something reassuring in that familiar blend of punk, rockabilly and roots country that gets into the psyche. It wasn’t that the band released “Ball and Chain” or “Story of My Life,” it’s that it feels like those songs always existed, long before we heard them. Live, this feeling became palpable on numbers such as “Prison Bound,” when the shared levels of empathy between Ness and his audience is second to none, not even the sincere exchange of Springsteen and his.

Social D broke out a slowed-down version of “Ring of Fire” with bassist Brent Harding thumping his upright like he was petting an anxious dog, followed by a thunderous version of Hank Williams’ “Six More Miles.”

Ness has audience participation down to a science, but he wasn’t about to wave his microphone in front of an audience to let them sing a chorus (refreshingly). Despite having played some of these songs thousands of times, there’s never a perceptible trace of burnout in his delivery.

Instead, he pushed through the anthems “Sick Boy” and “Winners and Losers” with fans (he called them his “backup singers”) providing a swaying madrigal from one end of the room to other and all his familiar grunting inflections playing over top. If Ness has lost anything from his brawling punk days, it’s only a bit of the eyeliner and a few hair follicles.

In essence, he has not changed. Dissenters could say he hasn’t grown much, either, but maybe growth isn’t necessary to form a live tradition.

Social D finished the night with an encore performance of “Prison Bound” and ended with “Story of My Life” and exited the stage, leaving behind a bombination of amp noise. Classic distortion.

--

Social Distortion

House of Blues Anaheim:

7:30 tonight and Nov. 27-28. Other performances through Jan. 2. $27.50 (714) 778-2583

House of Blues Sunset Strip: 8 p.m. Friday through Sunday. Other performances through Jan. 13. $27.50 (323) 848-5100