MELVINS
w/ Redd Kross
10/17/25 – Paper Tiger – San Antonio, TX
©M’Lou Elkins / Skip2Photography.com
On Friday, October 17th, the Melvins rolled into San Antonio’s Paper Tiger with their Stop Your Whining tour, joined by punk-rock icons Redd Kross, delivering a night of fuzzed-out sludge rock, sweat, and crowd-surfing mayhem. It was one of those humid Texas nights where the air felt charged. Maybe it was the packed venue, or perhaps it was the Greek festival just down the block, filling the streets with energy and excitement. Either way, the vibe was electric before the first note even hit.
Paper Tiger, once known as the legendary White Rabbit, has long been a cornerstone of San Antonio’s live music scene… a gritty, no-frills venue that’s hosted everyone from underground metal acts to indie darlings. Its open floor plan and low ceiling make it the perfect pressure cooker for shows like this: loud, sweaty, and gloriously unpretentious.
Opening for the Melvins, Redd Kross didn’t just warm up the crowd, they annihilated it. The band, celebrating 45 years of chaos, hit the stage with pure unrelenting energy, churning out riffs that hammered the packed room from the first note to the last.
Double-duty heroes Steven McDonald on bass and Dale Crover on drums held it down for Redd Kross before returning to their Melvins duties, proving their stamina is basically superhuman.
Check out the Redd Kross concert photo gallery below:
Sweat, fury, and power chords flying in every direction, it was a reminder of why their story has been captured both in a documentary and a book… legends, plain and simple.
As the lights dimmed for the Melvins, a backdrop of Ace Frehley images appeared behind the stage, paired with a wailing guitar rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner, a tongue-in-cheek cue that it was Melvins time. The crowd erupted as King Buzzo, Dale Crover, Coady Willis, and Steven McDonald took the stage and immediately ripped into “Working the Ditch” from 2024’s Tarantula Heart.
Buzzo, in his trademark muumuu and wild silver mop, stalked the stage like a heavy metal shaman, his every stomp punctuating the massive wall of sound. Dual drummers Crover and Willis were a sight to behold: two rhythmic powerhouses locked in total sync, their thunderous precision driving every riff straight into the chest cavity. McDonald, ever the showman, bounced and grimaced at the crowd between bass runs, adding bursts of color to the band’s molten groove.
The setlist was a dream for longtime fans: “The Bloated Pope,” “Evil New War God,” “A History of Bad Men,” “It’s Shoved,” “Hag Me,” “Honey Bucket,” and “Night Goat” all hit with seismic force. Each song felt like a master class in controlled chaos, crushing yet weirdly graceful in the way only the Melvins can pull off.
The crowd? Completely unhinged. Wave after wave of bodies surfed over my head, limbs flailing and grins wide. Somewhere between “Hog Leg” and “Honey Bucket,” I realized two things at once: my photo gear was in mortal danger, and I was at least two decades too old to be taking boots to the head. I reluctantly retreated to the edge of the floor for a breather, just in time to hear McDonald yell, “The stars at night are big and bright…” and the entire room roar back, “Deep in the heart of Texas!”
Check out the Melvins concert photo gallery below:
By the end of the night, Paper Tiger was a swamp of sweat and smiles… the kind of beautiful mess only rock ‘n’ roll can create. Redd Kross tore through their set like a lightning bolt, and the Melvins followed with a mind-warping onslaught that left no eardrum unshaken. It was pure, unapologetic rock carnage: loud, raw, and timeless. Nights like this are exactly why these bands have remained essential for decades: they don’t just play rock ‘n’ roll… they embody it.
