Live Review: Reel Big Fish

Newcastle University Union – 30^th January

Our very own Union plays host to the Ska-Punk legends in only the second gig since its September re-opening.

Making their umpteenth appearance in Newcastle, Reel Big Fish break in ‘The Venue’ for its first gig of 2012, in what will hopefully prove a more fruitful year for bands playing at the Union.

Support band The JB Conspiracy unofficially announce this as the refurbished Union’s inaugural gig but technically the Devin Townsend Project’s acoustic set last year took that crown. That one piece of misinformation aside the JB Conspiracy proves a surprising delight. Consisting of all the key ingredients a ska-punk band needs their execution is sublime. Catchy lyrics the crowd sings back, saxophone hooks and a constant bounce in their step demonstrates these guys from Guildford have the ability to go far.

The less said about Orange the better. Pop-punk may have been big when the likes of Blink 182 and The Offspring were young, but that was because they did it well. Orange unfortunately sound like a more whiney knock off version of Green Day and wearing novelty glasses and hats whilst playing adds nothing to the performance, if anything it makes it less fun and more cringey to watch.

For anyone whose seen Reel Big Fish before, or even just a live clip of them, you know what to expect. Upbeat songs, sing-along choruses, humorous in between jokes and a constantly jumping/skanking crowd. Tonight nothing has changed and it would appear that apart from one or two line up changes , not much else has changed in the past six or so years.

The set features all the tunes that helped them make a name for themselves including ‘Beer’, ‘Sellout’ and the obligatory cover of A-Ha’s ‘Take On Me’. Having released their last album consisting of new material in 2007 and only playing ‘Slow Down’ from said album, does this indicate a lack of creative juices?

Either way their live performance is still extremely enjoyable and the venue is soon at sweltering temperatures. In the £8million spent refurbishing it would seem no-one thought of installing any air conditioning however, but the hordes of skankers dripping sweat and beer everywhere is the sign of a good time.

Blistering through close to twenty songs in just under ninety minutes is mightily impressive but does mean the jokes are kept to a minimum. Whilst Aaron Barret’s Hawaiian shirt may hold some novelty factor, they don’t require any stupid hats to entertain, the quality of their performance is more than enough . A sign of true class.