Old guys rule: Social Distortion, Bad Religion to play mini punk festival in downtown Fort Lauderdale

There is something glorious and subversive about Mike Ness and Social Distortion performing at an outdoor block party in the middle of downtown Fort Lauderdale. The concert, set for April 27, will include the equally disruptive Bad Religion.

Punk rock icons, founded in the late 1970s in Los Angeles, Social D is antithetical to the shiny, spritzy vibe that has Fort Lauderdale’s developers and glamorizers in thrall.

They’re guys. They’re gritty. They’re loud. They’re old. They’re out of fashion. They are the Fort Lauderdale that was. And, these days, they’re a breath of fresh air.

So Revolution Live has chosen to showcase Social Distortion and Bad Religion right out in the open, on a stage set in its parking lot facing Broward Boulevard, one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares. In front of the club, Southwest Third Avenue will be closed to traffic, and here mingling fans and food trucks will create a mini punk-rock festival.

The story is that the all-ages concert was moved outdoors because the club’s capacity of 1,100 or so was deemed too tight for the number of fans who will want to see these two revered bands.

But we like to think The Rev — for nearly 20 years one of South Florida’s best live-music venues (its retro authenticity featured in the 2012 Tom Cruise romp “Rock of Ages”) — decided to wear its rock ’n’ roll heart on its sleeve.

And putting the Social Distortion-Bad Religion bill on an outdoor stage in such a prominent downtown location feels like a bet that Fort Lauderdale — heck, South Florida — still, somewhere, has a gritty, old, out-of-fashion rock ’n’ roll heart.

Advance tickets for the concert go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday at JoinTheRevolution.net. Prices are $52.50+ for general admission and $85+ for VIP. Day-of-show GA tickets will cost $60+.

The Social Distortion-Bad Religion tour announcement this week (which noted that Social D will be playing 1983 debut “Mommy’s Little Monster” in its entirety) also was much-anticipated confirmation of the improved health of Mike Ness.

The 61-year-old bandleader was diagnosed with tonsil cancer earlier this year, which forced the postponement of the tour last summer. In one of his most recent Instagram posts, last month, Ness sounded hopeful and acknowledged that the band’s first studio album since 2011’s “Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes” is coming:

“I finished 6 weeks of chemo and radiation last week and now can solely focus on rehabilitation to get strength back in my voice and all the muscles in throat and neck that have been disrupted from surgery etc.,” Ness wrote. “I am keeping my eyes on the prize to be back in studio to finish album and back onstage sooner than later.”

Staff writer Ben Crandell can be reached at bcrandell@sunsentinel.com. Follow on Instagram @BenCrandell and Twitter @BenCrandell.