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The Mighty Mighty Bosstones / Zox

live in Providence
2007
live show

Review by: Eric
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Published on January 15th 2008

New Year's Eve 2007, the last of the mighty, mighty reunion shows. This show took place at Lupo’s in Providence, RI. Doors opened at 8 and it took over a ½-hour to get in due to the amount of people. By the time I made it in and onto the floor, Darkbuster was finishing their set with their kickin’ version of the Budweiser theme song. I was ticked that I had missed their set but they must have gone on shortly after the doors opened, which is odd since most clubs usually give people an hour to get in. But my expectations were growing since (from what I heard) Darkbuster sounded great and they were the first band on.

Street Dogs were up next and they lit up the crowd something fierce. I have seen the Street Dogs many times but this is by far the best they have ever sounded. The guitars, bass and drums were clean and tight. Mike was working the crowd and climbing up the speaker stacks to get the people in the balcony sections up off their asses and moving. Highlights included “Not Without a Purpose,” “Tobes Got a Drinking Problem” and “Drink Tonight.” The only problem I noticed was about halfway though they played the very powerful/emotional song “Final Transmission.” It sounded great but its slow pace threw off the adrenaline and intensity of their short set as it took a few songs after it to get the crowd back into a frenzy. The band ended their set with one of my favorites, “Fighter.” When Mike was done singing he launched himself off the stage and crowd surfed his way from the stage to the bar at the back of the building. Not a bad way to get around.

Now after these two bands, my expectations were extremely high for Zox. Boy, was I disappointed. They were bad. The sound guy must have been taking a break because the bass was so loud that it sounded like a piece of crap tricked out Honda Civic had pulled up next to me at a traffic light. You know -- that sound of strained speakers still trying to put out 10,000 watts in the 10 kilohertz range. It was painful. Zox managed to play three songs but were then pulled from the stage much to the crowd’s pleasure.

Throughout my years I have caught the Bosstones many times and they have never disappointed. Tonight would be no different. They took the stage with their black and white plastic Santas just after 11 and played for almost two hours. From the first scream of “Doctor D” to the last note of “Rudie Can’t Fail,” they proved where the Mighty Mighty comes from. It’s hard to believe that they were coming off a four-year hiatus because they sounded perfect and they (and everybody there) were having an absolute blast. The dancing Bosstone Ben Carr must have been an aerobics instructor during their break because he was going non-stop from one side of the stage to the other. The horn section was first-rate, and not to dismiss the other horn players but Chris Rhodes can play the fucking hell out of a trombone. It has been a long time since I went to a show where bodies were flying off the stage and the crowd singing along to every word. They pulled songs off of every album and at midnight they played an excellent skankified version of “Auld Lang Syne.” They did take a quick break after an hour-and-a-half and Dickie swapped his suit for a T-shirt and workout pants and proclaimed that “if I wore this every night, we could have kept the band going for another 10 years.” Nothing like teasing us.

Here is a breakdown of the songs they played. It is from memory and it is not in order so hopefully I got them all.

Dr. D
Simmer Down
Holy Smoke
He’s Back
Everybody’s Better
So Sad to Say
Someday I Suppose
I Hope I Never Lose My Wallet
Where Did You Go
Hell of A Hat
Another Drinkin Song
Howwhywuz, howwhyam
Cowboy Coffee
Noise Brigade
The Old School of the Bright
Sugar Free
The Impression That I Get
Royal Oil
Tin Soldiers
Kinder Words
Toxic Toast
Rascal King
You Gotta Go
1-2-8
Don’t Worry Desmond Dekker
Rudie Can’t Fail

On a side note, I would like to thank the cool people that hooked my pregnant wife (31 weeks) and I up with such a nice, safe place to watch the show from without fear of large drunken “Impression That I Get” fans stumbling onto her.

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Posted by bill737 on 2008-01-17 20:14:09

I'm not gonna bore you with my take on the new years show, because I had a real big issue with the yuppie, new years crowd in the back. But let me just say this:

I've seen the BossToneS countless times, probably in the 30 range somewhere; I went to all 6 shows that week and they fucking kick ass like they never stopped playing!!!

The first two nights of the Throwdown, they only repeated about 4 songs. Every single show was unique and rocked in its own way. Lots of highlights for me; Nate Albert playing with the band again, Peter Wolf from the J. Geils Band singing with Dicky the second time MMB covered "Give it to me", hearing Devils Night Out a couple times, Another Drinking Song live, and just the dominant stage presence so many bands lack!

New years was awesome, don't get me wrong, but there were a lot of douche bags in the back half of the crowd. I saw yuppies in new years attire attempting to "fight", and just a lot of old muther fuckers that just didn't seem to be in the right place at that particular time.

Lupos management is a bunch of morons for how they handled the ticket situation too. There was ONE person checking ID's against the tickets and I knew guys who were handing printed e-tickets with girls names on them, and vice versa. So much for their scalp-proof ticket plan. Idiots. I missed Darkbuster cause of that shit; if I had missed the Street Dogs, I would have been arrested. Also, they oversold that venue so bad! Good thing there wasn't a fire.

Oh well. All in all it was a great week of music for me. I came up from Pittsburgh and nearly drank myself to death. I still haven't recovered.

I just hope the BossToneS record a new, full length album!!!

Hang on! I did bore you with my take on new years, didn't I? Notice I didn't comment on zox...and for good reason, they aren't worth my time.

Posted by pud93 on 2008-01-17 18:56:27

I don't remember hearing Noise Brigade or You Gotta Go....also they played Nevermind Me.

Posted by wentz_equals_death on 2008-01-16 16:34:06

the note at the end of the review makes it sound as if being a drunk is a bad thing

Posted by maverick on 2008-01-16 15:44:47

"Also, didn't they close with Lights Out? They closed with that one (either for their main set or the encore) every night I saw them."

They definitely closed with "Rudie Can't Fail."

-Scott

Posted by Skibz777 on 2008-01-16 13:31:45
My Score:

The BossToneS also played 'Numbered Days', as well.

Posted by skaboom on 2008-01-16 01:36:34

I went to 3 of the Middle East shows in Boston. Bummed I never got to hear Dr. D or 1-2-8, but besides that it was a fantastic time. I was sorta worried the guys might have lost some of their intensity, but they were as tight as ever.

Also, didn't they close with Lights Out? They closed with that one (either for their main set or the encore) every night I saw them.

Posted by sumwon on 2008-01-15 21:00:28

Kinda weird that they would end their reunion show with a cover. That's a very small complaint though.

Posted by joeg on 2008-01-15 20:46:57

i love the setlist except for one glaring omission. no devil's night out?

Posted by ozmanx on 2008-01-15 19:40:58
My Score:

Damn.

Posted by ashtraymonument on 2008-01-15 18:23:12
My Score:

score is for bosstones

0 stars for zox. they blow

Posted by KungPowza on 2008-01-15 18:17:13

Sounds like a fucking awesome show!

Posted by MN_punkmaster-skaman on 2008-01-15 17:01:10

I really wish I could've been there. Bosstones, Street Dogs, and Darkbuster? Talk about a helluva Boston show!

Posted by maverick on 2008-01-15 16:07:16

"Zox managed to play three songs but were then pulled from the stage much to the crowd’s pleasure."

That's not true, they played their full alloted set. I was there, too (and it was a hell of a show by the Bosstones -- dudes definitely still have it).

However, the definition of "no fun" was driving from Providence back to Cleveland on New Year's Day and hitting a full-on blizzard in the middle of Pennsylvania.

-Scott

Posted by jacknife737 on 2008-01-15 15:39:13

I'd have given anything to be at that show, still i like to think i was there in spirit. Great setlist, and for those who are interested http://youtube.com/profile?user=jzkpr this guy's youtube profile has some amazing videos from the show.