Whenever
a Ska band is in town I look forward to seeing
them, as there always fun and happy, which makes
the gig an instant hit as there always going to
get the crowd happy and bouncing, and tonight
is no different as Reel Big Fish are back in town
and its 10 years since I first saw them, so it
makes it all the more exciting. But first up is
the support and that is brought tonight by California
ska band Suburban Legends.
Suburban Legends take to the stage in a burst
of trumpets and dancing and jump straight into
their first song Bright Spring Morning. They sound
great, and the room take to them instantly, everyone
is jumping and dancing even if they don’t
know the lyrics. The band can’t stay still
and every member looks happy to be there, even
the drummer Ryan Steen, who is drumming twice
tonight, as he is also Reel Big Fish’s drummer,
and that turns means by the end of the gig he
will have played 32 songs! Suburban Legends play
a good set of 9 songs including 2 covers, 1 of
which is a Disney cover of the Lion King song,
Just Can’t Wait To Be King, which gets the
crowd joining along with the high pitched vocals
of singer Vincent Walker before ending their set
list with another sing along to Queens, We Are
The Champions. The crowd are all pumped up and
are ready for the main act.
Reel
Big Fish, have been around now for 22 years and
have had 19 different members, but the current
line-up has been the same now on the whole for
about 6 years which means they all work well and
know allot of their back catalogue and so we can
expect a great show from a seasoned band that
play great Ska music. They take to the stage one
by one with the brass section all dressed up funny,
with masks and yellow costumes with singer/guitarist
Aaron Barrtet taking to the stage last dressed
in a Hawaiian shirt and white jacket covered in
patches from Ska bands past and present. They
stand in a line and blast into Everyone Else is
an Asshole from their current album Candy Coated
Fury, which gets the crowd moving up and down
whilst singing all the words, this just shows
that Reel Big Fish can still make new music that
people love and don’t have to depend on
their back catalogue to sell tickets, but they
do have a 23 song setlist in store for everyone
so they can include songs from each of their 7
albums. The setlist is made up of great tracks
such as; Trendy, Everything Sucks, She’s
Famous Now, All I Want Is More, A Little Doubt
Goes A Long Way, I Want Your Girlfriend To Be
My Girlfriend Too, Everybodyz Drunk, Sell Out,
Your Guts(I Hate Them). The crowd are loving every
second and they sound as fresh as they
did 10 years ago. The levels are all good, and
the words can be heard over the high sounds from
the brass section. Early on in the set Aarons
guitar strap breaks and his guitar falls to the
floor, but instead of stopping and freaking out,
seasoned Aaron, steps forward and grabs the mic
and walks about the stage engaging with the crowd
whilst his guitar tech takes to the stage and
fixes things in time for the next song to start,
most of the crowd wouldn’t have noticed
this as it was done without any fuss, but this
is why the band have been going so long, because
they are pro’s. Because the setlist is so
long Aaron doesn’t do too much talking in-between
songs, he does introduce the other band members
and does nice little intros to the songs but there’s
nothing that stands out as really spontaneous
which shows there is always a downside to doing
this for 22 years, but it’s not a major
one as the crowd are here to listen to the songs,
not to hear Aaron talk. They continue their setlist
with; Good Thing, Where Have You Been, Another
F.U.Song, In The Pit, She Has A Girlfriend Now
and Beer!
Reel
Big Fish prove again that they are amazing live,
and will always put a smile on your face. They
finish there amazing set with Monkey, Don’t
Stop Skankin, SR and finally with their great
cover of A-Ha’s Take On Me. They sounded
great and are relentless with their Ska beats,
they seem to have improved in the 10 years since
I first saw them, and I hope they continue to
get better with age and that they’ll be
back around next year!
Suburban Legends 3.5/5
Reel Big Fish 4.5/5
Review By James Daly
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