Reel Big Fish/Goldfinger

live in Portland (2001)

ChrisGorman2

With all the news on here lately about RBF and Goldfinger, I thought it only appropriate to do a live review of their recent show at the State Theatre in Portland, Maine on 10/07/01.

This was an experience that I approached with some trepidation. I was psyched for Goldfinger, one of the first bands to really get me into punk AND ska, but I wasn't sure about the rest of the line-up. Reel Big Fish I have seen a bunch of times, Mest I thought was boring and I had never heard the Movielife. However, this show ended up being pretty cool.

I would have got there right at the 7:00 starting time, because I was mildly curious for the Movielife (or for Sugarcult-I wasn't sure which band it was going to be, but I would have settled for either). However, I had to wait for some of my friends to get ready. Then I had a hell of a time getting a parking spot. We didn't get into the show until almost the end of the Movielife's set. Anyway, the crowd wasn't too in to the Movielife, but they still sounded pretty good. Kind of like A New Found Glory only a little harder and quite a bit better. I only wish I had heard more. Still, I was anxious to hear Goldfinger, and so I was glad they finished up.

Next up was Mest. They were better than the last time I had seen them with Goldfinger and The Urge, but still not the greatest. Basically, they are a rip-off of Goldfinger with bad lyrics. To their credit, they sounded pretty good, they were tight, and both of their singers did really well. Their new material was probably the highlight for me, I liked it better than the old stuff they played. Not much ska in their set, which was different from the last time I had seen them. They didn't even play "What the Dillio" which is actually ok by me.

After a fairly short wait, Reel Big Fish came on. They proceded to play a couple on new songs, and I was really pleasently suprised. I had expected that with the death of mainstream ska, RBF would probably abandon their ska-pop-punk roots, and go in a more "rock" direction. WRONG! The songs, which I unfortunatley dont have the names of, kept with the original RBF style of cheeze-metal meets ska. They were both good songs, and I look forward to hearing their new CD next year. they also played some tried and true faves, including "The Kids Don't Like It", "She Has a Girlfriend Now" and "Sellout". The best part, and I had seen them do this before, was the way they played around with their songs. Most likely, they are bored with playing their songs the way they are on CD. So, they mess around with them a bit. They went off on an extended bridge in "Girlfriend" and they played different variations of "Suburban Rythem", including blues, death metal, disco, and emo versions. It was pretty funny to say the least. I was quite happy with RBF.

Lastly, the highlight of the evening: GOLDFINGER! By this time, my friends and I were pretty tired, so we sat down for them. They came out in costumes, Darrin and the new stand-in guitarist as hockey players, John as a fat stripper, and Kelly in a diaper. They proceded to rip through a variety of Goldfinger faves including "City With Two Faces", "Question", "Superman" and "Here in your Bedroom". Feldmann was missing some lyrics, I found myself wondering if he was a bit plastered, but it kind of worked. I don't mid a little bit of raw sloppiness. They, by the way, also debuted two new songs. Both were great, so I am pretty stoked for their next release as well. They played two songs for an encore, one of which was pretty shitty. "The Innocent", recoreded with memebers of Good Charlotte and Mest has to be the worst thing ever recorded. I applaud the intention, and I am happy that they addressed the issue, but the song still sucks. Mest came out and provided backing vocals. Wa-hoo. Then of course, they ended on "Mable". They invited everyone up on stage to sing along, which is a crazy sight. It seemed like there were more kids on stage then in the pit. Incidently, I noticed that Feldmann was complimenting NOFX (and specifically, Fat Mike) all night long. I say this, because there was a lot of talk on this site about Fat Mike hating Goldfinger. I dont know about that, but I definitely got the impression that Goldfinger LOVES NOFX. Who knows. All in all, a good night.

Highlights - Goldfinger, RBF's emo version of Suburban Rythem, new songs, The Movielife, cheap water and food and finding out that Big D and the Kids Table are playing Maine soon.

Lowlights - Much of Mest's set, the amount of injuries from stupid shit, expensive merch, and the backed up toilets smelling terrible.