Reel Big Fish are tight musically. They’re excellent musicians with a top rate horn section. They take nothing else seriously. They’re part musical group, part dance troop and part comedians. Their sense of humor knows no boundaries.
Reel Big Fish opened their set with Everything Sucks (I know, everything sucks, yeah, I know everything sucks). Singer/guitarist, Aaron Barrett was clad in his traditional Hawaiian shirt while sax player Matt Appleton (sporting a mohawk hair cut) spun about the stage like a ballet dancer. He and Dan Regan (trombone) wore matching trim black suits. Trumpeter John Christianson (Johnny Christmas) wore his obligatory red shirt with the gold lighting bolt down the front and red gym shorts. But that’s not all. Over the gym shorts and lighting bolt shirt he wore a blue ship captain’s jacket and tacky plastic framed sunglasses. Often during their set the horn players performed choreographed kicks or danced about the stage arm in arm. It was hard to watch just one band member lest I miss something funny from another. Meanwhile, drummer Ryland Steen slammed away and looked like he just graduated high school. Bassist Derek Gibbs stood steady in one corner strumming away. Reel Big Fish are non-stop fun.
When it came time to sing She’s Got A Girlfriend Now, they invited Lindsay Vitola (from opening band Mighty Mongo)to sing the female part. This was followed by a ska version of the Darth Vader Theme, which led into Where Have You Been?
The highlight had to be the build up for Beer. They claimed they would play a song about their favorite drink, then started playing Tequila, before stopping short and claiming they really didn’t know how to play that song, then started playing Pina Colada, then Red, Red Wine, before finally playing Beer. The build up to that song was so intense that when they finally lit into it, the audience went wild and excessive crowd surfing ensued with audience members tumbling over the barricade in quick succession.
When it came time for everyone to scream for an encore, my ears rang severely and I wore earplugs. Take that, Seahawks fans!
I have no idea how these guys can exude so much manic energy on stage and finish their set as trim and neat as they did at the beginning. Even the suited horn players never seemed to break a sweat. This was one fun show!
Prior to RBF was Suburban Legends. This Orange County, California band is as much synchronized dancers as they are a ska band.
Front man and trumpet player (with stints on rhythm guitar on a few songs), Vincent Walker, leaped about the stage like hot popcorn, working the audience and bending them to his will. He had them eating out of his proverbial hands, getting them to punch their fists in the air and yell, hey! Hey! or repeat meow! Meow while scratching at the air.
At one point during the show a young woman was brought on stage to propose to her fiancee. Then he was brought on stage to accept her proposal. Afterward they serenaded the couple with a ska version of Sweet Caroline. Their quirky sense of humor and non-stop joking around made their set very entertaining. They ended it with a ska version of I Just Can’t Wait To Be King, in which everyone sang along. Judging by the uproarious cheers from the capacity crowd, I’d say Suburban Legends were a hit in Seattle. Besides walker, Suburban Legends are, ChrisLucca on trumpet, Brian Robertson on trombone, Brian Klemm on lead guitar, Brad Polidori on bass, and Edward Larsen on drums.
Mighty Mongo preceded Suburban Legends. Although more pop sounding than ska, they ooze charm and energy. The male/female harmonies between Lindsay Vitola (who also plays a keyboard/guitar hybrid called a keytar) and Alex Card (also on bass) are as infectious as their charm. Anthony Isoldi rounds out this trio from St. Petersberg, Florida. I saw them once before at Warped Tour 2012 and was favorably impressed.
Unfortunately I arrived too late (took me half an hour to find parking) to catch Maxi’s set. Hopefully next time.
