Reel Big Fish -- San Francisco, CA -- July 23rd, 2012

[brutal_descent]

Showed up an hour before doors at the Regency Ballroom; interestingly enough, this was where I saw RBF last year, so I noticed a lot of familiar faces. Last night's first band was also the same as last year's, The Maxies. Familiar with their catalogue this time around, I enjoyed their half-hour set, but wished they had been as theatrical as they were last summer. The next band was Suburban Legends, also from SoCal. I wasn't impressed with the first half of their set, but started liking them by the end. Their singer and bass players have great stage presence; at one point, the two brass players began sword fighting with their instruments, the trombone player impaling the trumpet player. The first pit of the show started during their last song. I caught their setlist after they finished (written on a piece of toilet paper):

Bright Spring Morning
Just Be Happy
My Friend
Bed Intruder Song [Antoine Dodson]
Open Up Your Eyes
I Just Can't Wait to Be King [Elton John]
Hey DJ
High Fives

Next up was the second-to-last band of the night, Big D and the Kids Table, who were the only band on the line-up who I hadn't listened to beforehand. Of the three openers, their music was truest to the labeling of ska. There were a lot of people in the audience there primarily for Big D, so you could say the crowd reaction to them was strongest in comparison to the two bands before them. Like with Suburban Legends, it took me a while to really enjoy their music, but once I did I was pretty into it. I will say that I really liked 'One Day'; it's one of the few serious ska songs I've heard that have appealed to me. Here's their setlist:

Steady Riot
Little Bitch
Breaking the Bottle
Modern American Gypsy
Hell on Earth
Girls Against Drunk Bitches
Strictly Rude
Shining On
Describing the Sky
My Girlfriend's on Drugs
Noise Complaint
One Day
LAX

And so finally it was time for one of my favorite bands of all time to take the stage: Reel Big Fish. My third time seeing them, Reel Big Fish satisfied as always, belting out over twenty terrific songs. However, this was probably my least favorite performance of theirs of the three I've seen, but that's in no way saying I didn't love their set. Aaron was as funny as ever with his usual stage banter, and sung with 110% of his power like always. I caught a pick from him after 'Beer', and got a setlist from a roadie after they finished up:


The Kids Don't Like It / In the Pit
Another F.U. Song
Everything Sucks
I Want Your Girlfriend to Be My Girlfriend Too
Snoop Dog, Baby
Good Thing
Don't Stop Skankin'
The Set Up (You Need This)
Enter Sandman [Metallica]
The Fire
Brown Eyed Girl [Van Morrison]
Ban the Tube Top
Don't Stop Believin' / With or Without You
Punisher
Trendy
Your Guts (I Hate 'Em)
Where Have You Been
S.R.
Beer

Sell Out
She Has a Girlfriend Now (With snippet of 'Call Me Maybe' )
Take on Me [a-ha]

[jd091]

I'm so glad there's a RBF set here

[TheNobleFaceHumper]

I loved seeing them last year with Streetlight Manifesto, wish i could have gone this year, they're really fun live.

[llama lom]

This is pretty much the same set (with the addition of some songs) as when they played at my school.

[TonyD]

I hate this fuckin music

[mastodon421]

Originally Posted by TonyD

I hate this fuckin music

This x1000000000000000

[mankvill]

Originally Posted by TonyD

I hate this fuckin music

>not liking ska

what the absolute fuck?

you even live in California.