If you want an evening, of life seeming blissfully all beer and skittles, then go and experience a Skapocalyptic tour like the one that just skanked Ottawa, Nov 20th. The line-up was strong, supported by two long time legendary Ska bands, Mustard Plug and the mission men The Planet Smashers. This show goes to prove our too often cold world needs more warm-hearted Ska tours like this one. It’s amazing what a little brouhaha and beer can do to cure a bunch of frozen ass Canadians.

The Plug’s refined brilliance played before the Planet Smashers setting the stage valiantly better than any co-headliners I’ve seen perform before. Whoever says it makes musically no difference if, a bands into the show or not is preaching bullshit. Mustard Plug proved it, really throwing it all down that night, including a few gaudy ornaments, lots of sweat and a solid set-list, including ‘The Freshman’, ‘You’ and ‘Not Enough’ finishing it all off inevitably with the ‘Beer (Song)’ but sadly they didn’t get the chance to play ‘The Park’. Mustard Plug’s level of energy was relentless on stage making their set candescent and the sound guy did a great job with Dave and Colin’s vocals that for once weren’t predictably weak but heard out distinctly along side the strong percussions. Wisdom is coming to these guys as they get older, for ever and a day staying true to their Ska roots and sweet melodies, Mustard Plug are one of the few bands left, spreading rather warm hearted messages, leaving fans to forget injuries but never kindness.

Keeping trusty to their ‘life of the party’ motto, undeniably the crowd belonged to the stellar Smashers that night. Of course, each member came out sporting their cute, recognized stage outfits that were totally soaked by the time they finished playing their first song ‘Life of the Party’. For the debonair Smashers, the beauty behind their live set is their unbroken joy on stage, it’s something that can’t be melted down and sold to fake a crowd you can feel their raw passion when it takes advantage. By the time they played ‘Fabricated’ their third song, no one in the venue could stop from kicking up their heels, it spoke for itself why this show sold out so fast. Leon, on sax would walk right into the crowd and dance with kids while Matt’s smile kept the crowd singing along to all their anthems like ‘Pee In The Elevator’ and ‘Blind’ finishing off their encore with ‘SK8 or Die’. This was one the cheeriest happy-go-lucky shows I’ve been to this year, they made the whole shithouse go up in flames that night, let the word go forth….