Opening Bands: Big D & the Kids Table
Date: October 12th, 2003
Venue: The Bottom Lounge, Chicago, IL

The Bottom Lounge in Chicago Suburban Legend is a band that puts so much planning and choreography into their set, that hardly anything is left to be live and spontaneous.

Especially in the horn section is the planned dancing and performance most evident, it is even plotted during which part of the show that the trombone players are supposed to run through the audience. This band is kind of like the N*SYNC of ska, so to speak, but they are definitely crowd pleasers. The on stage antics of Suburban Legend are so intriguing that many audience members refrain from moshing and/or skanking in order to just watch instead. This planned stage show does not make them any worse than other ska bands, just different. Suburban Legend chose to close their set with a cover of the Gummi Bears song, dedicated to all of the kids who sat around eating cereal and watching TV in the early 90’s, that was not without a totally kick ass drum solo.

Big D and the Kids Table played a good set that night, although they did not come off quite as impressive as one might expect from a band with such a large following. In fact, many fans were left to comment that this band sounds better on the CD than they do live.

Headlining the jam-packed Sunday ska show was Mustardplug. All of the devoted fans went nuts for this band. Mustardplug made sure to play the songs “You”, “The Freshman”, “Yesterday”, and “Everything Girl”. Also performed were “Skank by Numbers”, and of course “Beer Song” in order to get the audience properly pumped. Mustardplug is evidently a band that recognizes the importance of giving the kids what they want, for they even took a general vote on what songs to play next. Two of the winners ended up being fan favorites “Mr. Smiley” and “Thigh High Nylons”.