Fish, Bone Thugs perform different but effective sets

By: Cara Selick

Posted: 5/1/08

This past Friday, marking the true beginning of Spring Fair, hundreds of people flocked to the practice field, were felt up by security guards, and set up camp on the turf in small groups, waiting for the entertainment to begin. The air was warm and breezy and all conditions proved perfect for an outdoor concert. In typical Hopkins fashion, about an hour after its allotted time, the concert finally began.

Despite the various complaints and concerns about Reel Big Fish as a headliner for Spring Fair, these guys really pulled out all the stops. The minute they hit the stage, the six bandmates were teeming with energy, and it definitely transferred onto the crowd.

While there was a section of the crowd which was obviously lingering in the back waiting for the second act of the night, even they were bobbing their heads and trying to suppress a smile. The band opened with a few jokes in a lighthearted tone that they maintained the entire show, accompanied by what is without a doubt their most well known song: "Sell Out." This was a very wise move on their part. Although the song may have been popular in 1997, when most of us were somewhere between nine and twelve, it is so catchy and was played so often back then that just about everybody at least vaguely recognized it.

It was a great segue into the upbeat sound of ska music, featuring all the instruments fairly evenly, including the trombone and trumpet, those classic big band staples of ska. By the end of the song, everybody was in the mood for a little time travel. For some unknown reason, a somewhat sad excuse for a moshpit formed in front of the stage. Luckily, a few musically educated people began a miniature pit of their own where they were all skanking, the form of dance appropriate to accompany ska music.

The band gave the school its money's worth. The members themselves were outgoing and dynamic personalities who kept the energy up throughout their set. Aaron Barrett, lead vocalist and guitarist and only founding member still a part of the band, was perhaps the most effervescent of them all. With their eclectic and bright clothing, as well as sunglasses at night, they admittedly looked a bit odd for people of their age (or anybody above fifteen); however their oddities only further energized the crowd.

Einstein is often attributed to having said, "The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over, and then expecting different results." If following this standard, there were several insane people present at the Spring Fair concert, especially during Reel Big Fish's set (perhaps by the time Bone Thugs-N-Harmony came on, they had finally learned.)

People made constant attempts at crowd surfing, only to find time and time again that Hopkins students are apparently not strong enough to hold up other Hopkins students. Person after person fell through the crowd, landing in all sorts of painful looking positions. Many people also attempted to smoke up, only to have security follow their smoke trails and kick them out of the show within minutes. And yet moments later the next person would try it.

While I confess I didn't really recognize most of the songs, despite being a semi-fan back in the day, I had a great time, and it seemed as though everybody else did as well. While Reel Big Fish may have gotten some smack weeks ago, they delivered a solid set, and, most importantly, a good time. The show was fun, funny, light, danceable and just about everything that Spring Fair should be really be about, rather than just obtaining a big million-dollar headlining band.

After waiting almost a full hour between bands, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony finally graced the stage. Interestingly, the crowd shifted, and those who spent Reel Big Fish's set in the back eagerly pushed their way to the front while the previous moshers either hung around the back or left. While Bone Thugs perhaps didn't play as dynamic and energetic a set as RBF, their skill more than made up for it.

The group mostly just wandered around stage randomly while rapping and didn't have as much crowd interaction. However, most of the people who bothered to stick around for the second half of the concert knew the songs, even if they couldn't actually follow along. All members spat out rhymes and rants so incredibly fast it was almost impossible to even discern what they were saying.

But not necessarily in a bad way. Their deft tongues were a source of amazement, and of course the consistent and contemporary beats kept the crowd bouncing and dancing the rest of the night. Luckily, they performed the only two songs I previously knew, "Thuggish Ruggish Bone" and "Crossroads," both of which were greatly received by the remaining audience.

Although both groups had very different performance styles and musical genres, they somehow combined to make a very satisfying show overall. While some less musically open-minded people may have been peeved at having to sit through one set to get to the next, I found the two very dissimilar flavors of musical talent to complement each other well in their extreme differences. The concert set the tone for Spring Fair and left everyone present with expectations for a good weekend