Date: March 24th 2017
Opening Bands: Hub City Stompers, Midnight Foolishness

I was torn for awhile on which show I was going to go to on Friday March 24th. Originally I was going to see VGS, then heard Fishbone was going to be in NYC at Gramercy. Then I found out they were doing Chim Chim’s Badass Revenge album from start to finish and I kind of don’t like that album. So…decided I’d rather see Voodoo Glow Skulls since I haven’t seen them in over 8 years! I think I made the right decision but I’m sure people at the Fishbone show will tell me otherwise.

The show was a somewhat early show and was supposed to get over at 10:30 or earlier. I was okay with that. The opening band was Midnight Foolishness from Brooklyn. The crowd was light for their set but people were still coming in when they were playing. They play pop punk and sounded pretty good. They kept trying to get the crowd to move up or dance around. They didn’t win them over until they played a cover of Blink-182. But by then, their set was over; maybe they should have played that one half way through their set.

The club filled in when Hub City Stompers came on stage and the NJ ska band got the place moving. I thought they sounded great and one of my favorite sets that they have done since I’ve been seeing them. They played songs like “Where’s My Hooligans,” “Latina Rose,” and one of my favorites by them, “Mass Appeal.” It’s always amusing to hear their alternate version of The Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry” with “Skins Don’t Cry.” Like other set I’ve seen them do recently (last year’s The Selecter show at Gramercy), they paid tribute to Roy Radics by raising a glass and playing a song for him. They did an awesome cover of the Skoidats’ “Goggles & Blinders.” If I can’t get a Skoidats reunion, them covering one of their songs makes sense. Travis and the band played “Sharky 17,” an Inspecter 7 song that I haven’t heard live in awhile. I guess the last time would be when Inspecter 7 played Apple Stomp. They played a great set and the almost sold out (or was it sold out?) crowd loved it too.

I didn’t think there would as many people at the show then there was because of the conflicting shows happening. But I guess Fishbone can have a different crowd than VGS does. The club was packed by the time they got on and a bit rowdy. At least I’m not used to it, trying to shoot shows up front when people are pushing, shoving, headbanging and even stage diving near you. I prefer a photo pit but then can’t shoot the entire show. Definitely a completely different show than the last one I was at (Chain Wallet at Mercury Lounge).

VGS was great and came on and played songs like “Voodoo Anthem,” “Charlie Brown,” one of my favorites “Insubordination,” “Shoot The Moon,” “You’re The Problem,” and of course “Fat Randy.” For the first song, Frank was wearing a Mexican wrestling mask and that didn’t stop others from wearing theirs. Only those people wore them the entire show. That’s some dedication! At one point they played some songs I wasn’t familiar with, not sure if they were brand new ones or from their latest albums. Speaking of albums, they will be releasing a brand new one in October. Last I heard it was going to be released on Stomp Records but not sure if that changed.

The last song of the set was “Band Geek Mafia” and was an awesome one to end with. The band seemed pissed that they had to get off the stage when their set ended. Everybody stood around waiting for them to come on for an encore but there was another show coming on right after their set. The music was playing and the lights were coming on so I started to head out until I noticed the crowd getting louder and louder. They weren’t leaving until an encore. One by one the members came back on stage and said they will play two quick ones. They played “Ugly Stick” from their first album and then “Delinquent Song” which people were screaming for the entire set. Great encore and just a fun, rowdy show in general. Glad I went and glad I got to see VGS again after all these years. They are one of the first ska punk bands I listened to when I started to listen to the music in ‘96.

Check out some of my photos. All my photos will be on SkaPunkPhotos.com.

Midnight Foolishness

Hub City Stompers

Voodoo Glow Skulls