Streetlight Manifesto and Reel Big Fish at the Fox Theatre in Pomona

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Written by Brittany Woolsey

Saturday, 24 December 2011 03:47

A hoard of people, clad in checkered clothes, danced, pushed and sang along at the Fox Theatre in Pomona on Thursday night. Ska bands Streetlight Manifesto and Reel Big Fish each took their turns on stage for the packed crowd, showing off their diverse sounds.

Supporting their humorous style, Reel Big Fish were constantly cracking jokes throughout their set. The band included a lot of audience interaction in their set, with witty banter to go with it.

“How many of you are having fun?” Aaron Barrett (vocals) asked the crowd. “How many of you are having fun? How many of you are girls? Ladies? Women? That’s everyone!”

The group then began playing “I Want Your Girlfriend to Be My Girlfriend,” followed by a cover of Toots and the Maytals’ “Monkey Man.” The crowd roared in delight and skanked around the dance floor to the classic, upbeat ska song.

Barrett then announced the next song, “She Has a Girlfriend Now” was about a “girl who left me for another girl.” The song included humorous female-sounding vocals from Matt Appleton (saxophone), who portrayed the girl that left Barrett.

When Reel Big Fish, began playing “Suburban Rhythm,” those familiar with the band knew what they were getting into, and the others had quite the funny surprise. The group played the song six different times, including its original ska version, punk, disco, country, blues and metal styles. Before each version, Barrett commanded the crowd to dance in different styles, including forming a circle pit, square dancing, head-banging and booty shaking, depending on the genre of the song.

Toward the end of their set, the group announced that they had a “special guest” in the building. Ryland Steen (drums) then walked on stage, dressed up as Santa Claus and joined the band in playing a skanked up version of “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town.”

They ended their set with two of their most popular songs, “Sell Out” and a cover of “Take On Me” by A-Ha.

Setting a different mood for the night, Streetlight Manifesto wasted no time in-between songs and rarely took breaks to speak. Unlike Reel Big Fish, Streetlight Manifesto’s songs had more serious tones and lyrics to them. However, that didn’t stop the crowd from showing that they were continuing to have a good night. No one was still in the room, and the crowd was constantly swarmed with crowd-surfers.

Opening with “Watch It Crash,” Streetlight Manifesto showed off a blend of ska, jazz and punk sounds infused with very well-written lyrics. Most of their songs deal with serious topics like suicide, and life and death in general. Despite some of the tunes lasting more than 6 minutes, the crowd was constantly singing along with Tomas Kalnoky (vocals).

A noteworthy moment was when the band played “A Better Place, A Better Time.” During that song, the crowd overpowered the band with their voices as they sang along to the anti-suicide song.

During “1, 2, 3, 4,” the audience sang along to the “woahs” in the song, and when the band walked off stage, the crowd roared the “woahs” even louder, signaling for the band to come back out.

Streetlight Manifesto ended their set with sing-along favorites “Here’s to Life” and “The Big Sleep,” which prompted even more crowd-surfing.

Apparently, the ska scene is still alive and kicking, and bands like Reel Big Fish and Streetlight Manifesto easily prove that.

Reel Big Fish set list:
• Everything Sucks
• I Want Your Girlfriend to Be My Girlfriend
• Good Thing/I Hate Your Guts
• Trendy
• Monkey Man
• Join the Club
• She Has a Girlfriend Now
• Ban the Tube Top
• Snoop Dogg, Baby
• 241
• Brown Eyed Girl
• The Set Up
• Say 10
• Where Have You Been/Beer
• Suburban Rhythm/Another F.U. Song
• Sell Out
• Take On Me

Streetlight Manifesto set list:
• Watch It Crash
• That’ll Be the Day
• Flailing, Failing
• We Will Fall Together
• Down, Down, Down to Mephisto’s Café
• Forty Days
• Hell
• Dear Sergio
• A Better Place, A Better Time
• Would You Be Impressed
• A Moment of Silence
• A Moment of Violence
• Somewhere in the Between
• 1, 2, 3, 4
• Here’s to Life
• The Big Sleep