Bad news: The invite-only Pennywise show tonight in Long Beach has been canceled due to… the police.

Evidently a fistful of Long Beach County Police officers gave the venue owner (a friend of the band's) a bit of sure pressure this afternoon. If the band played the show, the cops threatened they would shut it down. “I think they were just preparing for the worst. Which is probably what's gonna happen at a Pennywise show,” said a very calm Pennywise guitarist, Fletcher Dagge, moments ago. Last time Pennywise played a show in Long Beach, “there was an out-of-control turnout,” with too many ticket holders who'd arrived on a first come first served basis, and the cops had to “disperse the crowd.”

Tonight's show would have been the band's first performance with new singer Zolie Teglas before playing the Cypress Hill Smokeout this weekend in San Bernardino. “He's never sang with us in front of a crowd and we figured it would be good to have a hometown crowd there, just keep it small and have a nice rowdy old school bar show. It's just kinda hard to do that anymore I guess,” Dagge said.

The show was intended just for a bunch of friends, with a list of about 250 people. “We didn't tell anybody except for the people on the list.” How it got back to the police department is all speculation.

Pennywise hinted that a sneak attack show for tomorrow night, in another city, is on the rise. But we can't tell anybody where…

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