Mad Caddies / Ten Too Many - live in Winnipeg (Cover Artwork)

Mad Caddies / Ten Too Many

live in Winnipeg (2004)

live show

Stuart Thomas

With the Mad Caddies playing Winnipeg for the second time this year, it seems like they're the only Fat band that seems to come up here anymore.

It is actually a cool story as to why they played. This was not part of a tour, or anything, in fact the Pyramid paid an airline to fly a band out to play a one-off show, and chose the Mad Caddies.

The show started around 9. The opening band, High Five Drive, a local group that have been around for a while, played a really good set. Their style was mostly fast and melodic. However, they mixed it up and played a few slow songs. A couple of their tunes sounded like new Belvedere; definitely worth checking out. In addition, they had two singers, both with really different, really good, clear voices. I really enjoyed this set.

Next up was the band Ten Too Many. It was pretty comical watching ten of them squeeze out onto the Pyramid's stage. The horn section being careful not to poke someone's eye out, the guitarist stuck in the back corner almost out of sight. The singer for this band, also local, was a pretty cute girl. She had the 'Gwen Stefani' early No Doubt thing going on. She sang well, however, they're heavy on the ska, and light on the punk, and it did not do much for me. The highlight of their set was a cover of "Our House" by Madness.

After this there was a long pause, and the new Snoop Dogg album penetrated the venue's PA system and some dude came on encouraging people to buy drinks.

The Caddies came on around 11:15 to a warm reception. Most of the crowd was pretty wasted, and so was the band.

They kicked off with "Macho Nachos" and played almost everything until close to 1. Their set was really good at the start, however, as they got drunker the set deteriorated. By the end they were pausing for long periods between songs, making dumb comments, and playing "Cowboys and Indians", a song they made up improv style.

Overall, they put on a good show, but they just lost it at the end. Maybe they should have finished a few songs earlier, or drank a few beers less. Anyway, it was still good.

The set was wide, they played songs off all the albums, including "Drinking for Eleven," "Contraband," Road Rash," "Days Away," "Goleta," "Econoline," "Wet Dog," "Pirate Song," "The Gentleman," and "10 West." It was a good time.

Definitely check out the Mad Caddies if you have the chance; hopefully you catch them a little more sober.

Overall: 8/10
High Five Drive: 9/10
Ten Too Many 6.5/10
Mad Caddies 8/10