Although it was well out of my way, I made my way up to Riverside, California to see Reggie and the Full Effect. They (he) played in a little record store in shopping center called “Off the Mall”. Unfortunate for us, Reggie lacked the Full Effect. Reggie lacked Reggie. Instead we had some black long-haired wig wearing fellow who called himself “Paco, with a P” (which we know was Reggie). The excuse for the gang not being there was that they were stuck on the freeway and he was filling in…or something like that.

There were some technical difficulties with the initial drumbeats so things got off to a shaky start. This one guy with a keyboard played some of your favorite or maybe not so favorite Reggie songs. He referred to his music as “acoustic”, I guess because he didn’t have the whole get up. The sound quality was horrible, but it was a record store, so they’re excused 110%. After a few songs, “Paco” asked the audience what they thought of the new album, and the loudest, clearest response was that “it sucked”. Well looks like we had a comic on our hands because “Paco” told us there would be no drinking of hateraid at his rock show. It was funny at first, but then it just got played out by the end of the show because he referred back to it a few too many times.

“Paco” let us in that he had written a song for his friends Matt and Christine. Well as his story goes, Matt and Christine did not pay him at their wedding he played at, so the song’s proper name was “Congratulations Matt and Christine, you fucking assholes”, but sadly, the subtitle was removed by the record company to become the song you know today. Great story, is the ending true?

Our friend “Paco” played for about 45 minutes with songs including Your Girlfriends Hate Me, Megan 2k, a Dwarf Invasion medley as well as a couple of other songs. When he was done, he gracefully signed autographs for many fans and I took off.

Unfortunately, if you didn’t already see this show, you won’t get to. But don’t get discouraged yet, The entire band will be touring this summer, so hit that up if you’re a fan of strange songs, of which only half really mean something.