A bunch of old dudes rocked Philly last night. You may have heard of them; they’re called The Sonics

The Sonics | Photo by Tom Beck

Here’s what you need to know about The Sonics: The band is a highly influential garage rock band from the 1960s, who laid the roots for many punk and garage rock bands after them. Without The Sonics, there would no Clash, no Hives, no Ramones, no Strokes and no Nirvana. And despite their high energy, catchy, havoc-wreaking shows, the band never quite made it uber-famous. A few years ago, The Sonics, who are now all in their 70s, burst out of retirement and took their instruments with them, releasing and album, going on a world tour, and taking no prisoners. Last night, the tour finally stopped in Philly at packed TLA house.

This Is The Sonics is the band’s first album in 40 years. And guess what? It freakin’ rules. For the first time in waaaaaaay too long, life-long Sonics fans finally have an opportunity to listen to new music from the legendary garage rock band in quality recordings, which is kind of a big deal, because all of the recordings from the 60s sound kind of muddy and bad, failing to capture how great The Sonics really are.

Songs from the new album were featured aplenty at the show, including “Bad Betty,” “I’ve Got Your Number” and “Be A Woman.” But lucky for old fans, the band played also old favorites like “Cinderella,” “Boss Hoss,” “Psycho,” and “Louie Louie,” before closing out the encore with “The Witch,” making for an energetic performance. There was not a single slow song in the entire set and, to put it in perspective, a mosh pit formed in the middle of the audience towards the end of the show.

If you weren’t there, your loss. Check out photos from the performance below.