They hit the stage with Down and Out, followed by Back Yard. Front man Chuck Robertson is the penultimate performer, and sporting more than a five o clock shadow, he made facial contortions and leaped and strutted about the stage when he wasn’t glued to the mic. At times he had a rhythm guitar strapped to him, but other times his voice was his only instrument.
When it came time for the band to play Monkeys, lead guitarist Sascha Lazor donned a banjo and this is when the packed club went wild. I was shoved into the stage more times than I could count and I felt like I was at a punk show rather than a ska show and was surprised I wasn’t hacked off at the hips as a result. Things stayed wild when they lit into Coyote.
The Mad Caddies are not only attracting a larger crowd, they’re attracting a more raucous crowd too. SO many in attendance sang a long to all their songs. They finished their set with no encore and missing were Weird Beard, All American Badass, and Pyramid Scheme. Though they played for an hour and a half, I could have done with another half hour at least.
The remainder of Mad Caddies are Keith Douglas – Trumpet, Vocals, Eduardo Hernandez – Trombone,Todd Rosenberg – Drums, Graham Palmer – Bass, Dustin Lanker – Keys.
This was a show that really was a double bill, though because preceding Mad Caddies was The Aggrolites. The Aggrolites play a little ska, a lot of rock steady and a heavy smattering of reggae and they do it so well.
Front man, singer/lead guitarist, Jesse Wagner, filled the room with non-stop charisma as he flitted about the stage, often shoving his mic into the very enthusiastic crowd to sing along. The highlight of their set had to be the appearance of Linville Golding (of Specials fame) for a rendition of Rudy, which everybody sang along to. Linville spewed his own brand of charisma and it spilled into the audience infectiously. If not enough people were singing along, he goaded them to do so. A statue couldn’t resist his charm.
For the finale they played a drawn out version of Don’t Let Me Down, which again they urged everyone to sing along to when Jesse frequently shoved his mic into the crowd. Aside from the aforementioned, the rest of the Aggrolites are, Roger Rivas (organ), Jeff Roffredo (bass), and Ricky Chacon (guitar).
Opening the entire evening was a group called The Bunny Gang, fronted by Nathen Maxwell of Flogging Molly. Though Nathen doesn’t have the strongest voice, he makes up for this with showmanship. He came on stage initially wearing a Guy Fawkes mask and playing a melodica with a blow tube inserted through the mouth portion of the mask. When the mask came off after about two songs, he was all leaps and bounds. The Bunny Gang played a variety of genres from rock steady reggae to straight up pop to some more ska sounding songs. This was a band that liked to have fun on stage and that was never more evident than when the guitar player crouched on the stage floor without missing a lick and Nathen did a flying somersault over his back. Judging by the enthusiastic response of the audience, I’d say many will be flocking (or hopping as the case may be) to see the Bunny Gang play again. They put on a very fun show.
