I went to a ska punk show this one time

              by: Reinna Soto

I could start out this post by explaining that it was a fish out of water concert experience:  indie and electronica loving darling goes to a ska punk show.  This concert was more than that. This show had punks of all ages and types, Mohawks of all varieties and colors, and it had me being the most obvious non-punk (or ska loving person) there (really, some people gave me the oddest looks, but didn’t say anything).  The energy that Capdown and their three supporting acts had on stage effected the way the audience at the grand KOKO venue reacted to the music.

It should be stated that there were 30 minute breaks between each set, so that roadies could set up the different instruments and perform mic checks. During each break people brought clear plastic cups of beer and talked. It was the only part of the four hour concert that was claim. However, once people started to throw their beer cups in the air during each set, the crowd went into a state of controlled chaos in that their movements in the mosh pit was a way for people to lose control in a certain space—the standing area of the venue.

By the third song of the JB Conspiracy’s set (they were the first act to perform), a mosh pit had started.  The mosh pit is the audience response that looks like a wave of people moving in sync with the music. Most of the music that these bands played was fast and loud. This allowed the audience to be aggressive in that people bump into each other at a fast speed in the pits. Sometimes the lead singer can construct a mosh pit like the singer of the Filaments did during their set. He asked people to form a circle pit. A circle pit is where people run in doing different types of dance moves such as skanking and the running man in a counter clock wise fashion. During the Capdown’s set, the lead singer had the pit split down the middle. During this time he went down into the pit, and a huge mosh pit happened with the singer in it since it was the bands last show for the year. However, the music can also make the audience more relaxed.

The Skints set was more mellow than the other three (they came on before Capdown) since they were more of a ska band than the other acts. From where I was standing, the pits died down but there were still people crowd surfing. During their set, people were dancing in the way you do at ska shows by swaying and jumping up and down. This was the break between all that explosive energy of the prior two bands and the craziness that was the Capdown set.

Capdown was very interactive with the audience in that the singer talked to the audience, had the audience do things, joined in the pit, and had everyone take a cheesy group photo. At one point before one of their songs, he told everyone to scream like 16 year old girls in so that everyone was more energetic. The lead singer continuously stated that this is their last show for the year, so he wanted everyone to make it a good one.

  

Even though my hair smelled like beer at the end of the night, I still had a good time