Last Wednesday, Madison’s reggae fans packed the Majestic for The Expendables’ Winter Blackout tour, featuring Ballyhoo! and Katastro. Braving painfully cold temperatures, the crowd began to fill in early as Katastro played an eclectic set full of reggae-style clean guitars, grungy choruses and soulful vocals—the band’s singer even rapped. One of the more memorable songs, “Alone,” got the crowd moving and ready for a night of fun music and positive energy.
Maryland natives Ballyhoo! took the stage after Katastro, representing the east coast in stride on the show’s bill. I’ve been following Ballyhoo! for quite some time, and couldn’t wait to see them play at the Majestic for the first time. While they may not be the first band to meld elements of reggae, ska and punk music, they may be the best at it. I was happy to see Ballyhoo! play some fan-favorites that included “The Struggle” and “Saw Her Standing” from 2009’s Cheers! While playing their hit “Walk Away,” the band tested the crowd’s involvement by conducting a massive sing-along session with the audience.
Singer and guitarist Howi Spangler is an excellent songwriter, whose powerful voice and lyrics turn their songs into much more than the beach party anthems you’d expect from a reggae-rock band. However, that’s not to say they don’t have their fair share of beach party anthems under their belt. When the band closed their set with “Cerveza,” an old gem from their early album Do It for the Money! the energy was tangible. Hands swayed in the air, Spangler ran around the stage working the crowd in-between verses and the song’s chorus conveyed the band’s underlying message: “before you gotta get back to the grind and don’t waste a minute of your summertime.”
When The Expendables made their grand entrance, the crowd took off. The set begain with a dark stage and smooth, clean guitar melodies, but quickly picked up to what would be a recurring theme throughout the show: sporadic, hectic infusions of metal and heavy punk music in between reggae songs. The second song of their set featured thrash guitars, the whole band positioned in power stances with their heads banging. This brought out mixed reactions in the crowd, as a little moshpit broke out in the middle of the floor. Most of the audience backed up to avoid it, and some people in the front turned around to yell at the flailing fans, because apparently they had never been to a punk show before. Should the moshing kids have toned it down? Should the people in front have accepted it as an inevitable part of attending a show? I’m not touching that one with a ten-foot pole.
The Expendables played one of their biggest hits, “Sacrifice,” right in the middle of their set, which really brought out the crowd’s energy. An unexpected favorite moment of the show came when the band broke out into a spot-on cover of “Safe and Sound” by Rebelution. That’s the great thing about a scene with a collectively similar taste in music—when The Expendables played this cover, there were more people singing along than during most of The Expendables’ own songs. After a less-than-convincing exit from the stage at the end of their set, the lights stayed dark, and an encore was inevitable. The crowd chanted for their favorite song, “Bowl For Two,” until the band returned to the stage and played it. At this point, considering the nature of the song, things got pretty hazy in the Majestic. After a final couple of minutes of dancing and singing along, a night of music, dancing and energy came to a close. If you’re a fan of reggae, ska, punk, rock or even thrash metal, check out The Expendable’s new album Sand In The Sky.
