{"id":665884,"date":"2026-08-31T22:24:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T22:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/665884\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T22:24:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T22:24:22","slug":"travis-barker-billie-joe-armstrong-lead-all-star-ramones-tribute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/665884\/","title":{"rendered":"Travis Barker, Billie Joe Armstrong Lead All-Star Ramones Tribute"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tOnstage in a red \u2014 though not raspberry \u2014 beret, a bearded John Travolta introduced the inaugural performance from punk all-stars Cretin Family for the Ramones<\/a> 50th Anniversary Tribute by resurrecting the geriatric cemetery joke: people were literally dying to get in. There was no rim shot from Blink-182-Cretin drummer Travis Barker, but the raucous performance by the Cretins, rounded out by Rancid guitarist (and the event\u2019s musical director) Tim Armstrong; Green Day singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong; and Ramones bassist CJ Ramone, could have raised the dead. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn this legendary internment oasis in the middle of a gritty Hollywood neighborhood, the departed \u201caudience members\u201d include classic cinema stars Rudolph Valentino and Jayne Mansfield, along with classic punk rock star Dee Dee Ramone, who rests not far from the imposing 8-foot guitar statue\/cenotaph honoring his musical brother, guitarist Johnny\u00a0Ramone.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe onstage vocal guests were as diverse as those below ground, and the confused curiosity about Travolta\u2019s participation and the post-concert screening of his amiable autobiographical film, Propeller One-Way Night Coach, faded as the nascent band kicked off their set with \u201cRockaway Beach,\u201d marking, as Billie Joe noted, the first time he\u2019d ever performed with hard-hitting superstar drummer and multi-hyphenate celeb Barker.<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom \u201cCretin Hop\u201d into \u201cGimme Gimme Shock Treatment,\u201d West Coast punk honored their East Coast legends and forefathers, the revered and influential Ramones tied only with Motorhead in the cool and ubiquitous T-shirt category. The Ramones<\/a>\u2019 appeal and fame crosses genders and ages, as onstage vocal guests \u2014 and an audience that included toddlers on shoulders \u2014 proved. Fred Armisen, who has his own Ramones covers band, delivered 1980s lyrically detailed and poignant Joey Ramone tune \u201cDanny Says\u201d as the first guest star of the 20-song set.<\/p>\n

\n\tIf the Ramones have been covered and honored by everyone from U2 to Rob Zombie to Sonic Youth, their own covers are likewise diverse, leaning into old American gems including the sped-up wonder of Bobby Freeman\u2019s 1958 \u201cDo You Wanna Dance.\u201d The Cretins were doing a cover of a cover. It\u2019s easy to imagine the late classic Ramones lineup of Joey, Dee Dee, Johnny, and Tommy appreciating the evening\u2019s aural tributes in their own decidedly Noo Yawk manner, but it was especially hard to resist L.A.\u2019s the Linda Lindas, whose vocals and youthfully energetic goofiness shone on the Riveras\u2019 surf-rock hit \u201cCalifornia Sun.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tFollowing her onstage stint and hanging with her mom, Linda Lindas guitarist-singer Lucia de la Garza, 19, tells Rolling Stone, \u201cWe grew up listening to the Ramones in the car and at home. We learned, \u2018I Wanna Be Sedated\u2019 [which they performed with the Cretin Family] at the very beginning, I must have been 11 or 12.\u201d Her band has toured with Green Day and Rancid, but she\u2019s \u201cpretty sure\u201d they were initially invited to participate in this anniversary show by Johnny Ramone\u2019s widow, Linda, who they\u2019d met at their 2024 album release show. \u201cThis is just such an honor,\u201d de la Garza said. \u201cAnd we really wanted the chance to meet CJ and Travis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLinda Ramone is a key player in the band\u2019s history and songs, and keeper of the Ramones flame through this annual official event that benefits Ellison Medical Institute for cancer research. (Johnny died of prostate cancer in 2005 at the age of 55.) Resplendent in lavender sequin cape and dashing cavalier hat, Linda was the belle and impetus of the hotly anticipated and sold-out Official Ramones 50th Anniversary Tribute. A busy and behemoth backstage found folks like Motley Crue occasional guitarist John 5 lining up at the In-N-Out Burger truck, with Starcrawler singer Arrow De Wilde, Foo Fighters\/Nirvana\/Germs guitarist Pat Smear, and other local musicians mingling in the large parking lot, surrounded by graves and massive mausoleums.<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n

\n\tAcross decades of banddom, <\/a>the leather-clad Ramones radiated on sunny songs including another cover favorite, \u201cSurfin\u2019 Bird,\u201d done ably by the Cretins. The \u201cFamily\u201d band even had a guest \u201cpinhead\u201d with a \u201cGabba Gabba Hey\u201d sign onstage, the character known to Ramones fans from Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll High School. It might have been an \u201cif you know you know\u201d moment. But most in the thousands-strong crowd knew, and appreciated.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLinda Ramone and John Travolta<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSean tSabhasaigh\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tThe strident and staccato \u201cRock and Roll Radio\u201d was a standout, but it was all phone cameras aloft when Billy Idol took the stage, performing a song perfect for his patented snarl, \u201cBeat on the Brat.\u201d He and the Cretins also did a good version of one of his own older songs with Generation X, \u201cReady Steady Go.\u201d Idol contextualized the tune and his own debt to NYC\u2019s own, telling the crowd, \u201cit\u2019s like the Roundhouse in London in 1976. We all sped up our music after we heard the Ramones. It was fucking great.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s no replicating the classic Ramones vibe, playing, or energy, but if Barker was almost too beefy and hard-hitting a player, and the guest stars breaking up the flow of a classic, frantic Ramones concert, the spirit, joy, and songs were undeniable.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile a large portion of the crowd filed out after the Cretin Family debut, Hollywood Forever is renowned for its outdoor film series, and many people were spread across the lawn \u2014 and grave-adjacent \u2014 for a post-concert movie. It was certainly a classic \u2014 the Brian De Palma-directed, Stephen King-created Carrie \u2014 but why not King\u2019s film Pet Sematary (which features two Ramones cuts, including the title track), or the most iconic film associated with the band, Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll High School?<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, as Travolta pointed out as he introduced his own film post-concert, five cast members from Carrie were on hand (he played high schooler Billy Nolan in the film), including Nancy Allen and P.J. Soles, the latter portraying spirited super-fan Riff Randell in Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll High School. But they declined to join Travolta onstage despite his urgings.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s been 50 years since the Ramones\u2019 self-titled debut launched, 14 iconic songs wrought in less than 30 minutes. All four original members have been gone since 2014, but the legacy lives large across generations: \u201cBlitzkrieg Bop\u201d was redone into a song for kids; \u201cBeat on the Brat\u201d escaped any woke policing despite its (humorous) imprecation to violence, and one can only imagine (hope) that \u201cNow I Wanna Sniff Some Glue\u201d would likewise be granted immunity. The Cretin Family band may live onstage \u2014 and who knows if the tribute be a\u00a0 one-time event \u2014 but the Ramones\u2019 own cretin family of fans clearly live everywhere for all-time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Onstage in a red \u2014 though not raspberry \u2014 beret, a bearded John Travolta introduced the inaugural performance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[268],"tags":[434,18,117,19,17,244492,111920],"class_list":["post-665884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-ramones","tag-the-ramones"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117192470654048226","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}