11-24-99-The Aquabats, Worcester Palladium, Worcester, MA
Oct 12 '00
I still remember the day last year when I was surfing the web looking for who was coming to town soon, and I came across a date listing The Aquabats coming here on the night before Thanksgiving. I immediately called my friend Rich, who is just about the biggest Aquabats fan in the world, and let him know. Within 10 minutes, we had both procured tickets for the show.
Our biggest concern come day of show was getting out to Worcester. For those of you who aren't familiar with Massachusetts, Waltham, where I am, is about 45 minutes east of Worcester. Add in the fact the easiest way to get to Worcester is to take the Mass Pike, and the fact that it's the biggest damn travel day of the year....well you can see where I'm going.
It only took us an hour and a half to get out to Worcester, and this was after we changed our route to save time. We parked and headed for the Palladium. I've seen more than a few shows at this venue, everyone from Insane Clown Posse to Foo Fighters. However, the Aquabats were only booked for the upstairs room, not the 3000 seat theatre that resides downstairs. So I guess you could say this was my first time at the Palladium Upstairs.
I had wanted to get to the venue early (over the protests of Rich) to check out a local ska band that was opening up the entire show, Big D and the Kids Table. Within five minutes of them taking the stage, I was hooked. Great ska band, with more than a hint of punk and hardcore in their sound.
The opening band that was actually touring with the Aquabats were The Hippos. I had only heard great things about this band, and to this day, almost one year later, I still can't figure out why for the life of me. I honestly think this was one of the worst live acts I've seen. When they couldn't get the crowd into their own material, they tried whipping out cheesy covers. Nothing worked, and while there were about 20 fans really enjoying themselves, the other 500 of us just kind of sat back and waited.
As the Aquabats equipment was being set up, we noticed they were having a lot of problems with different things. First it was the keyboard, then it was the bass, then the lead singer's microphone. And technical problems would be abundant throughout the set. However, with the 11:30 curfew hanging over our heads, the 'Bats finally walked out on stage at about 10 and ripped right into Red Sweater from their second album.
The band was having a great time, and the crowd was as well. Sound problems were just plaguing the band though, and it was kind of sad to see them just get completely angry over it. At one point, the Bat Commander got on the mic and said "alright kiddies, we have two choices. Because the sound system sucks, we can try and fix it and make you wait for more Aqua goodness, or we can just say screw it and keep on playing. Who wants us to try and fix it?" *light applause* "Who wants us to say screw it and keep on playing? *big loud applause*
After that little diatribe, the band ripped into Super Rad and the place just went bonkers. The push towards the front where I was became very heavy, thereby ruining the song for me. (note:I have no problem with the pushing at shows, I expect it, but sometimes it just gets way out of hand)
When the band brought out the Magic Chicken (no I kid you not, they actually have a guy come out in a magic chicken outfit), I honestly thought they were gonna play the song of the same name. They didn't though, and went into Martian Girl instead, saying something along the lines of "well we aren't gonna play your song Mr.Chicken, but we will play this super happy ska song though."
By the time the night was coming to a close after about 75 mins, the band had also rocked through Giant Robot Birdhead, Captain Hampton and the Midget Pirates and Idiot Box.
For the one song encore, the band began the intro to PlayDough and they just about tore the roof off the place, sound problems or no sound problems. Every single person in the crowd was singing along at the top of their lungs, and just about everyone in the first half of the crowd was doing a giant pogo dance. =)
If you haven't seen the Aquabats live, I highly suggest you do. It's certainly not a concert experience you'll get anywhere else. It's great fun too. And you should be able to catch them live soon, as they have a new album out November 7th, which they will no doubt be touring in support of.
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MattA75
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Member: Matt Aucoin
Location: South Berwick, ME
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Gonna be a daddy, April 2010!
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