A year in Adelaide just wouldn’t be complete without a tour by Reel Big Fish.
The energetic third wavers showed why they are still Kings of the Ska on Tuesday night when they played to a full house at HQ, (a venue typically more associated with skanks than skanking).
Throughout the show the band heavily promoted songs off their new album, Candy Coated Fury, a crazy romp into the over-the-top, brazenly confident, shake your brass, kind of crass style that is Reel Big Fish.
Many of the new tunes were already big hits with the crowd, which is amazing considering the album was only released in July.
Fellow veteran punk/ska band Goldfinger whipped the crowd into a frenzy with a solid mix of the old and the new during their one hour warm up set.
Known for his on stage antics, frontman John Feldmann did not disappoint. He managed to sing, play the guitar, and stage dive, all at the same time without missing a beat, not bad for a guy who’s been at it since 1994.
Feldmann even invited the audience to share the stage and help him sing the 1996 hit ‘Mabel’ (off the band’s first, self titled album). The highpoint of this phenomenal set was the band’s last song, their cover of ’99 Red Balloons’. Complete with a chorus in German, Goldfinger put their unique spin on this old classic.
After a rather long stage reset, Reel Big Fish skanked their way onto the stage playing their classic opener ‘Trendy’. Already special mention has to go to trombone player Dan Regan for playing a mean solo while doing the running man.
The band played a flawless set which, although obviously heavily rehearsed, seemed fresh, new and funky. Reel Big Fish are not a band that simply play songs, they perform, and they almost kill themselves doing it!
As well as playing classic tunes like ‘She Has A Girlfriend Now’, the band threw in a few covers too, such as the Van Morrison hit ‘Brown Eyed Girl’. Tracks from the new album ‘Everyone Else is an Asshole’ and ‘Your Girlfriend Sucks’ went down just as well as the old stuff.
Throughout the set, frontman Aaron Barrett delivered his famous brand of off kilter banter and kick-arse vocals.
There aren’t many bands that can have two massive personalities like Regan and Barrett on stage and actually make it work. It’s clear that these guys love playing together and over the years have developed some kind of deep punk / ska bond.
After leaving the stage for a short while, the band charged back to play a mega encore that included oldies ‘Beer’ and their take on a-ha’s ‘Take on Me’.
The really great thing about Reel Big Fish is that they’re able to play what the crowd wants to hear while introducing new material. They love the audience and the audience loves them.
View the photo gallery of Reel Big Fish’s show at HQ here.
