Another beautiful night in downtown Orlando was the initial setting for a good night of reggae rock, punk, and ska. The street scene of Orange Avenue is always a warm welcome to me as I make way to any given destination. The Beacham would be the lucky venue tonight, hosting a show I was longing to see. I had my rod ready for an exciting night of fishin’! Back by popular demand, Reel Big Fish had extended their “Turn the Radio Off 20th Anniversary Tour” in celebration of the 20th (or 21st now…) anniversary of that definitively quintessential album. They would be playing the whole damn thing front to back, as well as some old school classics. As if that weren’t enough, Anti-Flag would be doing the same, playing their classic 20-year old album Die For The Government in full. To top things off, opening up the show were special guests Ballyhoo! and Direct Hit!
I got to the show just before Ballyhoo! This band consistently ups their game every time I see them live. They were just the right thing to warm me up for the upcoming festivities.
Ballyhoo!
Ballyhoo!
There’s definitely no lack of energy on stage during a Ballyhoo! set. They are very engaging with the crowd, creating a party atmosphere and getting all in the dancing mood. Two of my favorites of the set were “Battle Cry” and the obvious “Outta My Mind.”
Ballyhoo! is releasing their 6th studio album girls. on Friday, March 24 with Right Coast Records / INgrooves Music Group. The iTunes pre-orders have already started. The album is produced by Paul Leary (Sublime) with additional production by Matt Wallace (Maroon 5, Faith No More) and some cool artwork by Coki Greenway.
From reggae pop rock to straight up punk, Anti-Flag took the stage next, changing the mood gears swiftly. I’ve been waiting a long time to see them. I can’t recall ever seeing them before, that is… I know they played Warped Tour 2002 but I got kicked out halfway through the day while 😉 going green 😉 in the back of the crowd during New Found Glory, and the only other vivid memory I have of that day is seeing Pepper. Hahaa!
Anyway, as I’m standing there super stoked to be shooting photos for Anti-Flag, soon after the third song started, some bouncer in the photo pit motions to us photographers to start getting out. The bassist, Chris#2 (Chris Barker), taps said bouncer on the shoulder with his foot and says “Four songs!” while holding up four fingers. So naturally, as the forth song begins, this bouncer again motions us to start getting out. Repeat shoulder tap sequence and “Four songs!” Finally, the fourth song ends and as I’m exiting, Chris begins to preach to the crowd, and it sounded sweet to my ears. It went a little something like this (to the best of my recollection): “Ok, so I don’t know who came up with this fucking 3-song rule, but there are some handsome photographers here in the photo pit trying to take pictures for their publications, and this asshole security guard can only seem to count to three, when we said four songs was cool. Can we get everybody in here to count to four? ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR! See? It’s not so hard.” I couldn’t stop laughing.
Anti-Flag
Anti-Flag
At another point during their set, a bouncer was going to kick a fan out for something that the lead singer/guitarist Justin Sane deemed not worthy of being kicked out for. He stopped the song to yell at the security guard in a very demeaning tone: “Hey! Don’t kick him out! He’s not fighting or out of control!” Not all security guards are dicks, but at times some seem to get off on their ‘power’ and just want to tell people what to do and not be a decent human being. Well, that shit won’t fly at an Anti-Flag show. Chris#2 would recall this bouncer’s inability to count past three later in the show, such a comedy recall!
Anti-Flag
Throughout the set, there were calls for unity and plenty of criticisms the new president, as expected. Most notably was during “Your Daddy Was a Rich Man, Your Daddy’s Fucking Dead” which apparently was written about President Old-Pile-Of-Garbage-Covered-In-Vodka-Sauce. #ComedyCentral #TuckFrump #WarSucksLetsParty
Anti-Flag played Die For The Government pretty flawlessly. I can’t wait until they do an anniversary tour for Underground Network which is my favorite album of theirs. They would close the set with a sick cover of the classic “Should I Stay or Should I Go” by legendary English punkers the Clash (#TheOnlyBandThatMatters).
The time had finally come for the feeeeeeeesh. Did I mention this was somehow my first Reel Big Fish show? Again, I’m 99% sure I hadn’t seen them before at a Warped Tour 15-20 years ago, nothing rings a bell. And every other time they came to town, I couldn’t make it out. Yeah, I know, took long enough.
Reel Big Fish
Reel Big Fish
They came out strong, first playing “I Want Your Girlfriend To Be My Girlfriend Too,” “Another F.U. Song,” & “Your Guts (I Hate ‘Em)” before the playthrough of Turn The Radio Off. The unmistakable soundings of “Sell Out” definitely kicked things up a big notch. My nostalgia radar was kickin’ pretty hard.
Lead singer /guitarist Aaron Barrett addressed the crowd: “Everybody please be quiet. Everybody, please, sshhh, please be quiet. We have a very important announcement… EVERYBODY’S DOING THE FISH, YEAH YEAH YEAH (you better)!” I laughed so hard and will now always think of that moment whenever I hear “Trendy.”
Reel Big Fish
I thoroughly enjoyed “Nothin'” which is my personal favorite from the album.
I don’t fucking care, I don’t fucking care, I don’t fucking care anymore. It’s going to be alright!”
In typical fashion when they play Orlando or anywhere close for that matter, RBF welcomed to the stage our wonderful local starlet BEEB$ from Beebs and Her Money Makers for the duet “She Has A Girlfriend Now.”
After the album playthrough, they had some fun with a great tease of Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ “The Impression That I Get,” jokingly claiming the song as one of their own… such jokers. Actually, the playthrough wasn’t over yet, as they conveniently skipped “Beer” saving it for the peak of the show. Check out The Sober Goat’s live stream on Periscope of this sequence.
@reelbigfish @thebeacham @showsigoto https://t.co/ZfIksh6Ekq
— Richie Williams (@TheSoberGoat420) January 26, 2017
After a few more, they closed the set with a sweet cover of “Take On Me” by Norwegian synthpop band A-ha.
Reel Big Fish
Reel Big Fish
Reel Big Fish, Anti-Flag, & Ballyhoo! Live Review & Photos by Richie Williams.
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▼ SHOWS TO GO TO ▼
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- The Commission Beer Chamber
- Kingfish Records (Clearwater)
- Nora's Sugar Shack!
- Park Ave CDs
- Montgomery Drive Presents
- RT-Art Printing
- The Mary Jane 'High-Quality' Art Gallery
- The Owl's Attic Vintage Shop
- Broken Strings Brewery
- American Combat Club
- Lazy Moon Pizza
- Ten10 Brewing
- Leguminati
- Mutiny Ocala
- The Tipsy Skipper
- Conrad's Beer Shanty
- AKT Shirt Printing
- Smartpunk Records & Shop
- No Clubs Presents
- DaddyKool Records
- Galactic G Skateshop
