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Mustard Plug / River City Rebels / Goldblade

live in St. Louis
2003
live show

Review by: SaxxyRebel
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River City Rebels Homepage. (link)

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Published on October 24th 2003

Well after a good few years between the time they came here before, and this night. Both bands headlining the tour make their way back to St. Louis.

The show was Tix available at door only, so I made sure I got myself and friends there early, just in case. After all it was at the Creepy Crawl, and sometimes you can never tell if a show will sell out at that place, unfortunately, not tonight. But that's ok, because I feel like it was a good amount of kids ready to have some fun. Including the 3 guys decked out in mustard bottle costumes.

After several hours of standing around, a fairly long line starts to form and its almost door time, and I was standing in the very front of the line of course, and Rylan Perry from the River City Rebels comes up to me and says "don't pay", I stopped for a minute looking confused, then he comes back over and says "alright I'm gonna put you on the guest list." Awesome. If anyone has ever read my reviews before, you should know I love the river city rebels, so I felt truly honored. So around 7:15 the doors opened and on with the show!

The first band opening for the night, was Psycho Dad, they are a st. louis local, and the reminded me a bit of "The Homeless Wonders" if any remembers those guys. They played catchy skapunk, and only a trumpet was there to back up the horn section. But everything sounded tight and good, they only played about 5 songs and I wished they would've played more, so I'm sure I will go check them out again sometime, until then, if you ever see them billed, go see them.

Next on the list for opening bands, was Swift Kixx, now i had seen them before and knew what to expect, and it was much, they too played skapunk, but it wasnt exactly catchy, nor played very well, i think they tried to make the simple ska chords way to tough with the harder edge they put on them, i cant really pin point any bands i'd say they sounded like, so i will just opt for early years Blue Meanies. I dont think i'd ever go watch them headline a show in St. Louis, but i wouldnt pass a show up if they were booked on it.

Next up was the biggest suprise of the night, Goldblade. Now i didnt really know what to expect from these guys, but it was crazy once they got going, everything seemed a bit sketchy at first, but a few songs into their set, the lead singer ripped off his shirt and the crowd went crazy. They played what seemed to be very early style english, punk / rock n roll. I'd have to say, i was quite impressed with they way they got the crowd going, and the intense stage presense the lead singer had, now im not certain but i think these guys are fairly new to this part of the world, so if you get a chance, check them out, it's worth it!

Up next was every little piece as to why i went to the show in the first place. Now i don't know how many times ive seen the rebels, but its been a good number, and they really have come a long way, and i say this because, they last time i saw them in st. louis was almost 2 years ago, before their release of "Livin' to play, Playin' to live", back when they were headling with Darkbuster (rip). Anyways, everyone was all geared up ready to rock out, even the new guitar player, Jake, at least i think his name is Jake. Then the bopper climbs up on the the stage, making sure all the rats and rebels rousers in the crowd were ready for some good ass shakin', and they kicked it off with the most excellent show openener i've ever heard "Such a bore" . After that, they proceeded to rip through more crowd pleasers off the new album "No good, No time, No pride" including, "Aborted", "Drunked Angel", "No Good", and "Pass the basket." Then of course pulled out another great cover of "Chinese Rocks" by Mr. Johnny Thunders, and played some real old ones off the first cd, "Hate", Millitary Atitiude" and rounded out the set with a few off the second release mentioned previously "6 am" and "Daddy was a Drunk" and as rumored, they played some new material, well one fo the rumored two songs, "Dreamy 17" its in a bit fo a different direction, but it comes from the heart and its very good. And just like the last few times i've seen them closed everything up with "Small Town Pride" and by about this time, everyone in the place had caught on to the lyrics and sang along to the chorus. So between the bopper swan diving out into the crowd and rolling around on stage, and brandons bad jokes, and the rest of the band plain going crazy. I'd again have to call them the highlight of the show. Like i sayevery songle time, Go See them! Witness the madness.

And last but not least, was the infamous mustard plug. Now i must confess, i skipped out early on them, due to the rest i will need for the catch 22 show friday, at the creepy crawl. But i've seen them plenty of times, and from what i saw, no surprises on the list, but before i left, i happened to hear at least one song off every cd they ever put out, and i'd have to say the new stuff is really great sounding, it has a much more mature quality to it, then the rest of the cd's, however my favorite being "Evildoers beware" a fine album, and they played my favorite song "Go" off of it, and even snuck "skank by numbers" into the set for all the old schoolers! On a final note, id just like to say, after 12 years of rocking mustard plug had never really changed the way the handle things, but energy wise compared to the rebels on this evening, it was lacking sufficiently!

Psycho Dad - 7
Swift Kixx - 4
Goldblade - 8
River City Rebels - 10
Mustard Plug - 9

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Posted by punkrocker810 on 2004-05-22 16:22:04
My Score:

fuck you all, the rebels are the greatest thing to happen to punk(rock?) in a while. their new album is gonna own your little asses. to the guy who liked worthless, big ups to you my friend. such a shame they broke up.

ps-new guitarist is patti botox

Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, November 1, 2003 at 6:24 PM (EST)
My Score:

i defionately meanty to say "ISNT"

- saxxy rebel

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, October 31, 2003 at 2:01 PM (EST)
My Score:

Wow. Props for mentioning Homeless Wonders. Props for mentioning Darkbuster. Props for liking Worthless United. But come on, a bunch of comments below, you said "and of course RCR is ska you dumb fuck". Please read up on some music history and learn that having a horn section does not equal ska. Good ska/ska-core bands: Mustard Plug, Big D., Pietasters.

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, October 31, 2003 at 1:00 AM (EST)
My Score:

I saw River City Rebels a month or so ago with the Pietasters and the Voodoo Glow Skulls, and I must say I was less than impressed. They might be an alright band if they weren't so cocky, so self centered, amused by insulting the crowd, and just fucking boring to watch because they think they're the hottest shit since slieced bread. They aren't. Put their ego's on hold, have them treat their fans with respect from the stage, and I just might give them another chance. But somehow I just don't see that happening any time soon.

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, October 29, 2003 at 9:28 AM (EST)
My Score:

Suburban Legends are crappy Ska band with an impressive live show. They're the N'Sync of Ska. They're trying so hard to be Reel Big Fish they even brought in Turn The Radio Off's producer. Their songs get old fast, since they can't seem to write anything even slightly original. Their lyrics and mundane and immature, and their trumpet player (Aaron) is a pedophile. Word.

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, October 29, 2003 at 8:43 AM (EST)
My Score:

you all mention some of the best ska bands around today... but fail to mention suburban legends... what the fuck.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 28, 2003 at 10:01 PM (EST)
My Score:

how could you fuckers not mention the toasters among the best ska bands around? seriously, go to their show in february and youll know what im talking about

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 28, 2003 at 12:56 PM (EST)
My Score:

saw gold blade last week, fuck this band really rock

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 28, 2003 at 1:25 AM (EST)
My Score:

River City Rebels
River City High
River City Rapists
Murder City Devils
Rubber City Rebels

Let's get original fuckers.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 28, 2003 at 1:04 AM (EST)
My Score:

Run-on sentence much?

"Next on the list for opening bands, was Swift Kixx, now i had seen them before and knew what to expect, and it was much, they too played skapunk, but it wasnt exactly catchy, nor played very well, i think they tried to make the simple ska chords way to tough with the harder edge they put on them, i cant really pin point any bands i'd say they sounded like, so i will just opt for early years Blue Meanies."

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, October 27, 2003 at 7:29 PM (EST)
My Score:

"The new link 80 crew is called DESA,"

LINK 80 WAS THE SHIT. killing katie, 17 reasons...yeah.
-Janelle

Posted by rxbandito24 on 2003-10-27 16:45:29
My Score:

"I can't beleive you retards are listing all these supposed "ska" bands like Rx Bandits, LTJ, RBF, etc. etc., even though all of the bands you list would (and in some cases, have) drop the ska part of their act in a heartbeat if it would make them more popular. "
SOOOO fucking dumb... NONE of those bands dropped the ska to "make them more popular"

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, October 27, 2003 at 12:41 PM (EST)
My Score:

it was a great show. MP & RCR of course rocked but Goldblade was surprisingly good too. didn't see the first two bands though.

Posted by saxxyrebel on 2003-10-27 09:01:26
My Score:

Why the fuck does everyone keep saying river city rebels is not ska? Did i fucking say that they were ska in the review!? NO!

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, October 27, 2003 at 2:37 AM (EST)
My Score:

I can't beleive you retards are listing all these supposed "ska" bands like Rx Bandits, LTJ, RBF, etc. etc., even though all of the bands you list would (and in some cases, have) drop the ska part of their act in a heartbeat if it would make them more popular.

For fuck's sake, buy a Slackers record.

Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, October 26, 2003 at 11:29 PM (EST)
My Score:

you shits put something to block out all caps posts. cram it with walnuts, uglies.

Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, October 26, 2003 at 11:28 PM (EST)
My Score:

Whoa i thought that i had put that in all caps

Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, October 26, 2003 at 11:26 PM (EST)
My Score:

Rubber city rebels

Posted by sonicice on 2003-10-26 15:29:26
My Score:

Let's not get into a dicksizing contest about how many times we've seen Mustard Plug. They tour so often I'm sure we (those of us who do like them) have all seen them more times than we can count. But, RCR is not ska. Ska involves upstrokes and reggae-ish vibes, the rebels are just punk rock with horns.

Also, I missed the "i think mustard plug is lost like in 1997 or something. they are so cheezy now and even back in the whatever wave of ska they surfed in on." comment earlier. I have nothing to say about this except that as much as I love the plug, this was fucking hilarious.

Posted by rxbandito24 on 2003-10-26 14:35:48
My Score:

The new link 80 crew is called DESA, just once, not desa desa, they are NOT ska, they sound nothing like link 80, but still, are a very good rock outlet. They just recently opened for Rxbandits on a west coast mini tour.

Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, October 26, 2003 at 1:09 PM (EST)
My Score:

To the guy wondering about Link 80, they've been out of commission for quite some time now. Some of the members are trying to get back together (I think) and are calling themselves something like Desa Desa. Catch 22 definitely didn't live up to the weeklong hype.

Posted by saxxyrebel on 2003-10-26 10:31:15
My Score:

Look man, like i said, i left the show early, because ive seen the same MP set list 20 times ok? More times then your age number, or more times then your mom has dropped you off at the locak venus to see them, which if you live in st. louis that was probally the first time.

And in now way is RCR trendy, youve gotta fucking be kidding me.

Posted by saxxyrebel on 2003-10-26 10:28:00
My Score:

Yeah i feel like i wasted my $ on the catch 22 tour, Worthless united was the only thing worth going for.

Posted by saxxyrebel on 2003-10-26 10:26:37
My Score:

Exactly, Big D and the kids table is even better then mustard plus, now thats high energy, not a bunch of 40 year old dudes, grabbing fans heads.

Posted by saxxyrebel on 2003-10-26 10:25:08
My Score:

Look, to the jerk way below.... i did stay for mustard plug, didnt you read the review? Not to mention im sure ive seen them more times then your age number, and of course RCR is ska you dumb fuck, they are the real deal.

Posted by THAT_GUY on 2003-10-26 02:08:21
My Score:

I thought MU330 broke up....

I'll be seeing this next Friday at the legendary Fitzgerald's, with local openers THE YETIS !! I can't wait. I mean, Mustard Plug and RCR on Hallo-fucking-ween, how cool ?

And if we're talking good ska bands left around, I'm a big Less Than Jake and Mad Caddies fan. I also listen to Blue Meanies, Streetlight Manifesto, BOTAR, Catch 22(AIAC and before), Rx Bandits, Reel Big Fish, Mu330, Potshot, Common Rider, and there are quite a few good ones...

OH!!! Anyone know if Link 80 is still together ? I can't stop listening to them lately.

Posted by 8dollarclarinetsolo on 2003-10-26 01:13:18
My Score:

yeah i cant blame the rebels for not coming back to cincinnati, i saw them at jillians and no one was really into them....
what i dont understand is leaving a show early cause you need rest for friday? sounds kinda lame dude... i mean just saying you thought rcr rocked and didnt feel like seeing mustard plug again.. but i dunno catching up on beauty sleep doesnt sound like much of a reason to leave a punk(/ska) show.. whatever sounds like a good show

Posted by dom_ on 2003-10-25 19:46:18
My Score:

River City Rebels is trendy? Is that what he wrote, or do I read all crooked?!

Posted by sonicice on 2003-10-25 15:17:24
My Score:

To the rxbandit guy:

I used to be sick of the anti-C22 bullshit too. But if they changed their name, they'd be even worse in my eyes, just because they're retaining credibility from their previous albums. The new stuff they've written, ignoring the fact that they are Catch 22 and not comparing it to previous albums, is plain out terrible, as is their live show nowadays (or at least on this tour they are on now.)

Posted by Punkinohio on 2003-10-25 04:26:54
My Score:

That other new RCR song was called "Im so vain". I wasnt there but they played those two new songs in Covington and Middletown. (near cincinnati) both really bummer shows for the rebels, noone showed.. they will not be back to the cincinnati area anytime soon.. according to Dan himself..

Posted by rxbandito24 on 2003-10-25 03:26:27
My Score:

PS. theres still so many good ska bands left, your crazy.
1. MU330
2. MUSTARD PLUG
3. THE BOSSTONES
4. LESS THAN JAKE (the new one was a little shaky tho)
5. STREETLIGHT MANIFESTO
6. BIG D
7. CODENAME ROCKY
8. CATCH 22
9. RBF
10.RXBANDITS, although they dont play much "ska" anymore

Posted by rxbandito24 on 2003-10-25 03:22:32
My Score:

I love mustard plug, AND IM SICK AND TIRED OF THIS ANTI CATCH 22 BULLSHIT, catch 22 rocks, still, if they had a different name ( youd be sayin they rock too) its just cuz tomas left, whatever, if you dont like them, listen to streetlight, and if you do like them, go see them on TOUR! ROCK ON!

Posted by sonicice on 2003-10-25 01:02:04
My Score:

This score is for the Rebels AND Mustard Plug. But dude, you fucked up big time by leaving early. Catch 22 fucking blows now, they're not even worth seeing. 80% of their set is new shit, and I mean shit in the literal sense. They used to be my favorite band, but now, fuck em. Don't waste your money.

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, October 24, 2003 at 11:13 PM (EDT)
My Score:

To the guy who thinks Mustard Plus is the only good ska band left, I have...uh...6, yeah 6 words for you.

Big D and the Kids Table.

They rule. You do not. Well, that's unfair, I don't know you, maybe you do rule.

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, October 24, 2003 at 8:12 PM (EDT)
My Score:

Mustard plug skanks... Hard. I love them

Posted by GregSka on 2003-10-24 20:02:55
My Score:

I've never seen RCR but I'd love to some day. As for Mustard Plug, they're one of the funnest live bands ever!

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, October 24, 2003 at 6:16 PM (EDT)
My Score:

Mustard plug, in my opinion, are the only good ska band left and probably one of the few ska bands worth liking when it exploded (also keep in mind they started way before that anyway, credit where credits due)Anyway, they still put on a good show and I occassionally put on some albums. RCR on the other hand, well, no offense to them or anyone who likes them cause i'd bet anything there really nice guys and whatnot, but, they kinda suck.

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, October 24, 2003 at 6:02 PM (EDT)
My Score:

Yea seriously, youre retarded. You didnt even stay for Mustard Plug yet you say river city rebels had more energy?? First the rebels arent ska. They are shitty punk rock with shitty horn lines. Fuck those trendy assholes.

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, October 24, 2003 at 5:59 PM (EDT)
My Score:

You rated rcr higher than mustard plug?? you are a joke.

this score is for mustard plug.

Posted by skankin_in_the_pit on 2003-10-24 16:55:42
My Score:

The mustard Plug record you are talking about is "Skapocalypse Now." Definitly one of their best. Every Mustard Plug record is great, though.

RCR need to play more off "racism, religon, and war" and nothing off "Playin to live..." That would make for a much better setlist, in my opinion.

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, October 24, 2003 at 4:02 PM (EDT)
My Score:

This score is for Mustard Plug. Hey Outkast, you ever see that old album by them, the one with the weird drawing on the front with mustard exploding everywhere? It's their original recordings -- from 1992 or so. They didn't ride any wave, they were doing it before it was cool. Not that that really matters, just thought I'd drop some science.

Posted by outkast on 2003-10-24 14:46:52
My Score:

i think mustard plug is lost like in 1997 or something. they are so cheezy now and even back in the whatever wave of ska they surfed in on.