The Mighty Mighty Bosstones at Webster Hall, NYC

Live Reviews | Aug 8th, 2012

Date: August 6th 2012
Opening Bands: The Attack, The Have Nots
Links: bosstonesmusic.com
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones played on Monday night in New York City and to put it simply, the show was awesome! The Boston ska band always deliver and still prove that they are one of the best live bands in any genre.

The Attack were the opening act and they hail from Florida. I guess the only way to describe their music is “H2O hardcore.” Mixing punk rock and hardcore and I really dug these guys. The crowd seemed to enjoy their set but I’m sure some people wanted to hear some ska instead. I don’t really know what songs they played but I liked what I heard.

The Have Nots were the second opener and again, I really don’t know much from them. I know they mix ska and punk together and from Boston but that’s about it. I really enjoyed their set as well, even though I didn’t know the majority of the songs. I know I heard some familiar songs in their set but they were probably covers. Check them out if you ever get the chance!

The Bosstones hit the stage at 10pm, which I’m not a fan of bands going on that late but it’s the Bosstones so I had to suck it up. I definitely felt like someone skanked over my body the next day at work. They opened up the set with “The Daylights,” which is also the first track off their newest album The Magic of Youth as well. Dicky and Ben were in fine form, taking turns going up front in the spotlight. Dicky and Ben throughout the evening were dancing back and forth, singing to each other. Dicky sang a lot with Chris Rhodes as well, the trombonist and former Spring Heeled Jack member. Chris has worked his way up the Bosstones ladder and seems to have given more to do on stage. After the opening song, the band played “You Gotta Go” and “The Rascal King.” Everybody loves “Impression That I Get” but I always loved “The Rascal King” off the Let’s Face It album.

After the third song, Dicky gathered the photographers to the middle of the pit for posing and poking fun. Whatever Dicky, you know you love the cameras. I talk more about that on SkaPunkPhotos.com.

Right from the start, crowd surfers and stage divers were sneaking around the bouncers. Dicky had to point that out to the bouncers and poke fun at them for beating them. It was starting to become an issue with the stage diving that the tour manager of the Bosstones had to go into the crowd to tell the kids to stop. The kids kept pushing their luck though and some got tossed out I believed. It was one of the rowdier Bosstones shows I’ve been at. The crowd surfing led to a few shoving matches but was quickly resolved with either the bouncers stepping in or the big dude (Chuck?) from The Chance in the crowd stopping them from going any further. I wouldn’t fuck with that guy haha. Besides crowd surfers, Dicky had to deal with girls & guys trying to get on stage to dance. And when given the opportunity, one girl looked like she was dancing in a 1960s beach party movie. Note to the kids out there: if you want to get on stage to dance, you better know how to do it!

Other songs that the Bosstones played include “1-2-8,” “Someday I Suppose,” “Another Drinking Song,” “Sunday Afternoons on Wisdom Ave.,” “Dr D,” “Devil’s Night Out,” “Hope I Don’t Lose My Wallet,” “Don’t Worry Desmond Dekker.” During “Kinder Words,” former guitarist Nate Albert came out to play which was cool to see as always. The Bosstones finished off their set with “the Impression That I Get,” “Lights Out” and “Holy Smoke.” It was getting late so I booked it to PATH to get home after “Holy Smoke.” I believe they came back to play “A Pretty Sad Excuse” and “A Little Bit Ugly.” I’m not a fan of “A Little Bit Ugly” (GASP) so that’s okay I missed it.

The entire set was almost perfect for me. Although, I would have loved to have heard “Where’d You Go,” “It Can’t Hurt” and “Cowboy Coffee.” I was happy with the photos I got and loved the show a lot. It was nice just being able to watch the show from one of the risers by merch and not have anyone in the way or bother me too. At this point, I don’t have to recommend seeing the Bosstones live because you probably already know that!

Check out my favorite shots of the evening, or see them all at skapunkphotos.com:

The Attack

The Have Nots

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones

Topics:

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,