SonicScene: Philadelphia

CONCERT REVIEW

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones Rock the Electric Factory

March 22, 1997 -- Just a week and a half after the release of their new album, "Let's Face It", the Mighty Mighty Bosstones found their way to Philadelphia for a sold out show at the Electric Factory. They came from Boston and they came to rock. After the crowd was adequately warmed up by opening acts H2O and Washington D.C.'s Pietasters (including a cameo by Dicky Barrett which whipped the crowd into a frenzy) the Bosstones took the stage and launched into the first song from the album, "Noise Brigade". People were stacked three high in the crowd as everyone tried to move forward as close to the stage as possible while simultaneously maintaining enough floor space to dance.

What followed was an incredible hour of ska-core composed of mainly new material from "Let's Face It" including "The Rascal King", "Royal Oil", and the album's first single, the inspirational "The Impression That I Get". A highlight of the excellent new material was "1-2-8" a song about the charisma (and dishonesty) of the modern day charlatan with an incredibly catchy chorus. These new songs were skillfully interspersed with older material from earlier albums such as "Where'd You Go" (from the album "More Noise and Other Disturbances" as well as the soundtrack to the movie "Clueless"), "Someday I Suppose" (from the album "Don't Know How To Party"), and "Kinder Words" and "Hell of a Hat" (from their last album, "Question the Answers").

Even though everyone was exhausted by the end of the set, when the band left the stage, we all knew that they'd be coming back out for an encore. And what an encore it was! The Bosstones being who they are, they didn't play just 2 more songs, or even 3 more, they played 5 extra songs dredged up from the 1989 album "Devil's Night Out". This is not to say that these songs are less impressive than the material the Bosstones are putting out today. "Howwhywuz, Howwhyam", "The Bartender's Song", "Do Something Crazy", and "A Little Bit Ugly" are all excellent songs, well put together and appreciated by the entire audience, while "Hope I Never Lose My Wallet" is considered by many fans to be the greatest Mighty Mighty Bosstones song of all time.

The entire concert was executed with a balance of technical precision (the songs sound as good, or better than they do on the albums) and raw spontaneity (including a slow dance between Dicky and a random fan from the crowd) that is rare in the music world. If the Bosstones end up in concert anywhere near you, make sure to go, you won't forget it.

by Jeffrey Greenhouse