The Slackers are the soul food of ska punk. They stick to their roots and original sound and their spiritual bent makes them a kind of constant comforting presence. The Slackers show at Slims in San Francisco on April 30th was a blast, mixing new songs with old favorite hymns of the Church of Slack for the band's 25th anniversary.


The opening bands were Monkey from San Jose and Viernes 13. Monkey is a pretty talented ska punk act with the obligatory pork pie hats and keyboards. They closed out with a cover of "Fakin Jamaican" by Skankin Pickle. Viernes 13 was another two tone revival slow beat ska act. Both were pretty enjoyable and fit with the Slackers' style.

The Slackers started around 11 and the crowd got pretty drunk and danced around a lot. They started with newer songs from their latest release, then went into the classics. They played "Soldier" off Redlight, "International War Criminal" and "Peculiar" off Peculiar, "This Is the Night" off their first album, and "Close My Eyes". They added extra horn parts and solos and other improv ad lib parts too which was entertaining. They came back on for an encore after the crowd chanted demanding it and they said "You guys are organized tonight" and did a few more songs including a cover of When the Saints Go Marching In. It was a lot of fun and its good the Slackers still play and have fun doing it when ska isn't nearly as common as it once was.