Bad Religion proves in Barcelona that 45 years is nothing in the world of punk rock.

The temptation to poke fun at the audience's age at Bad Religion 's concert in Barcelona on Saturday night was dashed as soon as we entered the Poble Espanyol . Many of those gathered in the main square of this eccentric venue, which recreates emblematic places of Spain—a kind of national theme park—may already have gray hair, but nothing cures lower back pain better than adrenaline.

Each of the 25 songs played by the Californian band served as a shot of taurine for their fans, who burned their heels until the very end . Carolina Durante fans who are just starting out in the art of pogo could have learned a lot from the veterans who tried it yesterday (and who probably have muscle aches right now).

Greg Graffin , Jay Bentley , Brian Baker , Mike Dimkich and Jamie Miller returned to the Iberian Peninsula to celebrate more than four decades of active life with the 45 Years Doing What You Want tour organized by the promoter HFMN . After Bilbao , A Coruña , Lisbon , Madrid , Málaga and Valencia they said goodbye to their fans in Barcelona , ​​​​which sold out the tickets, in style. They were accompanied by Agnostic Front , Strung Out , Crim and Belvedere , who were in charge of warming up the atmosphere until the Californians came on stage to put the finishing touch to an almost summer night.

The show began with the song "Recipe for Hate, " which served as the starting shot for a punk rock sprint. There weren't too many speeches in between—the formal greeting "hello, Barcelona," and little else—because Bad Religion doesn't need to explain themselves .

From the first words of that song that opened the concert, they made clear the spirit of their imagery: " Can't you feel it, can't you see/ The promise of prosperity?/ It's overwhelming you and me/ It afflicts us like a disease." That's it.

The songbook they've been working on throughout the tour wasn't meant to be about uncovering B-sides from their lesser-known albums or weird creative experiments. The band wanted their most loyal fans to have a good time at their shows, so the setlist for every show has been a mixed bag of hits that have cemented their nearly half-century of career . They opened with a song from 1993, jumped into the 21st century with Supersonic , included on their 2002 album The Process of Belief , and returned to the 90s again with You Are (The Government) from their 1998 album Suffer .

The many skaters who were in that cardboard main square - Bad Religion is one of the favorite bands of the old school members of the collective - went crazy with No Control , one of the group's anthems. Those ankles, hardened by jumps and skate tricks, held up well to that session of jumps and hoarse choruses: " You are not in command/ You have no control/ We have no control/ No control, no control/ You have no control"

By this point in the show, spirits were sky-high, and the songs were acting as a shot in the arm for the audience. The voice of Graffin, the 60-year-old zoologist who teaches Evolution at Cornell University , still holds its own, and "My Sanity ," "Faith Alone , " "I Want to Conquer the World," and "Fuck Armageddon... This Is Hell" (an epic moment) sounded more than powerful enough. Anyone who dares to claim that punk has lost its edge hasn't been to a Bad Religion concert in recent times (and they should).

But that was just the meridian of the concert. There were still other gems to come, such as Do What You Want , We're Only Gonna Die , You , and Generator . A succession of lyrics that function as manifestos—though not as pamphlets, let no one be mistaken—of social criticism. The band is concerned about individualism, the mental health problems of the Western population, dependence on technology, and authoritarianism , among many other things. As they say in 21st Century (Digital Boy) , another of the songs with which they thrilled fans: "' Cause I'm a 21st century digital boy/ I don't know how to live, but I've got a lot of toys/ My daddy's a lazy middle-class intellectual/ My mummy's on Valium, so ineffective."

They saved the enormous Infecte d and Cease for the finale, but the delirium came with the extras: Sorrow and, of course, American Jesus , which gave the audience goosebumps from the introductory riff. They couldn't leave without playing that now punk rock classic that Brett Gurewitz and Greg Graffin composed in 1993, almost like a prophecy. There have been many moments in the history of the United States when the lyrics of that song have functioned as an x-ray of the country, but perhaps never more so than right now. A farewell in style that all its fans hope is not the final one.