The Scene: Although Saturday night’s event at the Gothic was a Ska show, the crowd was distinctly Punk. There were Mohawks, patches, and spikes (both Liberty and on the jackets) galore. The crowd was varied with lots of young fashion Punks dressed to the nines with X’s across their hands to prevent them from drinking. The young fans lined the front of the stage and later swarmed the moshpit, stage diving and crowd surfing, while the older fans dressed down for the event and lined the bar seats and balconies. The “Creeper” and “Rudeboy” shoes that are usually seen in abundance at Ska shows were absent, replaced instead by Doc Martin’s and loafers. Although they didn’t dress the part, fans of all ages loved the show and danced like no one was watching.
Opener: The A-Oks. The Denver band The A-OKs played with a tremendous amount of energy. They are a seven-piece band composed of trumpet, trombone, saxophone, bass, vocals, drums, and guitar. With this many members, they put out an enormous amount of sound in addition to displaying great attitudes. Singer Mark Swan engaged the crowd with good banter, but the crowd needed some time to warm up (perhaps due to the Artic chill that held the room captive until the crowd filled in and overpowered it with body heat). Matt Sanchez on trombone managed to hold an incredibly short and steady distance from the microphone was which quite impressive to watch. Due to the incredible power from the horn section Swan’s vocals were sometimes hard to hear from parts of the venue. The Denver band had a tight sound and polished set, which ended with a song, “Jessiska,” that the band has been playing locally for eight years.
Opener: Dan Potthast. Dan Potthast is Santa Cruz, California-based but was raised in St. Louis Missouri, and the latter seems to be a larger influence on his songwriting. Potthast was the singer of the Punk band MU330 and now is with the band Sharkanoid, but also tours solo armed with just a guitar and a sense of humor. Potthast’s style did seem out-of-order for the night, and although he was a “bigger” act, after the energy of The A-OKs, the slower-tempo act would have been better placed at the beginning of the show. Potthast sang simple, funny, and sometimes poignant songs. The audience laughed, clapped, and cheered, and some obvious fans danced around. His lyrics covered topics such as the Baltimore Ravens, delivering pizza to a slumber party, and riots. At one point he stopped the show to ask the audience about shows that influenced their love of music or the genre, which for me personally included the headliner, Mustard Plug, as both my first concert and a show that cemented an eternal love for the Punk Rock scene.
Voodoo Glow Skulls: Although the Gothic’s marquee read Voodoo Glow Skulls, the Riverside Ska-Core (Ska and Hardcore fusion) band played third, with singer Frank Casillas running onstage with a football-inspired lucha libre mask singing the “Voodoo Anthem,” “Who does voodoo? We do!” The crowd was thrilled to see the band; one girl even brought a piñata, which was thrown around onstage during the song “Human Piñata” and later outside in the smoker’s pit. The fans packed in tightly with a swirling moshpit in the middle of the dance floor. VGS have been around since 1988 with ten full-length albums and five EP’s under their belts. The band revealed they were working on a new album, due out in May of 2015.
VGS played several classics including, “Shoot the Moon,” and “Land of Misfit Toys,” as well as three of their Spanish songs, including “La Migra,” as well as their cover of the classic track “Charlie Brown,” and also played the first line of Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” to an appreciative audience. Singer Frank Casillas was very entertaining, and “skanked” around the stage when he wasn’t singing. The song “Fire in the Dancehall” showcased Albert’s tremendous trombone playing, but the real treat of the night was watching Condosta jam out. He was just superb, playing with such an intensity that was sublime to watch in person. The legendary band played for just over an hour, a short set unfortunately, due to the fact that VGS and Mustard Plug plan on switching up headlining spots throughout the course of the tour that Denver kicked off.
Mustard Plug. As Mustard Plug began to play the crowd started to get rowdy and let loose. The band recently put out their first album in seven years, Can’t Contain It, and started the evening with the track “The All-Nighter” followed by “You,” and the dancing crowd seemed very into it. The band played several covers including great renditions of Fugazi’s “Waiting Room” and Rancid’s “Roots Radicals.” The band played “Lolita” effortlessly and the crowd surfers went rampant. Colin Clive on guitar and vocals has been with the band since the beginning (1991) and he played amazingly well live, and his singing parts were great. The band has a main singer (Dave Kirchgessner) but at times had up to four people singing. Clive and Brandon Jenison (trumpet) sounded fantastic together as their voices were very similar, but all the harmonies were spot on.
Kirchgessner had a Tony Bennett-style timeless quality about him, and he sang and moved around the stage with ease. After “Everything Girl,” Kirchgessner stopped the performance to ask if a girl up in the balcony who caught a full beer can in the face was all right, further emphasizing his personal style. During the song “Mr. Smiley” about a murderer, Kirchgessner wielded an oversized plastic knife “stabbing” several audience members. The band finished their set with the energetic track “Beer Song,” but the crowd continued to chant “whoa’s” and clap until the band came out for an encore. Mustard Plug gave the fans what they wanted, playing for about ten more minutes, including playing one more suprise cover song; “The Freshman” by The Verve Pipe.
Energy: A+
Musicianship: A+
Sound: A+
Stage Presence: A+
Set/Light Show: A+
Overall: A+
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