Week of Streetlight Manefesto

     This week I am going to be doing a fond farewell to a well loved ska band going out with a bang on their farewell tour. This week I am going to be doing a concert review of Streetlight Manifesto's final tour.

     The show was at Wooly's in Des Moines on June 24th. They had two openers Empty Orchestra and Rodeo Ruby Love. One of which was a ska band and one was not. Ive noticed that ska bands have a tendency to do that, bring a famous ska bands or two-three, and a non ska band. Usually as the first opener. Which begs the question why? Very few people go to ska shows not knowing anything about ska. It's usually a very solid core group of ska fanatics that attend theses shows. So why not just all ska bands. Also the first band usually isn't very good. I say this as a ska expert. I have been to quite a few ska shows. There was nothing wrong with Empty Orchestra but the weren't anything special either. Which is fine for an opener, they don't need to be special, but why no horns. Rodeo Ruby Love came out and gave the crowd what they wanted to hear, good old fashioned ska music. They were very good for a band so new to the genre. By new to the genre I mean not from the 90's. I couldn't find a set-list for them but they have three CD's out and they played for at least 30 minutes with material from all three albums.

     Lets talk about the factors that led up to the The End of the Beginning tour and the scrapped new album. On August 22, 2012 the announced that their new album would be called The Hands That Thieve. It was originally set to be released on November 6, 2012, but was pushed back to January 2013. On February 1st 2013 Victory Records their label was to announce the release date but didn't follow through. On February 15, it was announced by Victory Records that the album would be released on April 30, 2013. An acoustic version of the album was to be released by Toh Kay on the same date as the The Hand That Thieves. That's when things all went to hell. Victory Records withheld all copies of The Hands That Thieve from both Streetlight Manifesto and those that had pre ordered the album elwhere, and barred Streetlight Manifesto from releasing the Toh Kay album. The band called for a boycott of all merchandise and music purchased from Victory Records. As for the touring they are doing one final tour till the end of the year and then just doing festivals and one off show dates. They said they are not breaking up. The album was leaked on the internet another big fu to Victory Records.

     Ive been to a lot of shows, but shows are all different especially ska shows. There are some things that make them special. If done correctly ska shows can be both a workout and some of the most fun shows you will ever go to. Streetlight's show was no exception. I hate to say that  if you ignore the mosh pits you won't have as much fun because it's a strange statement, but at ska shows it's true. They have their own special dance for ska shows called skanking. I will link a video bellow. People in the ska pits do this dance in combination with massive amounts of jumping and bouncing off each other. This is a huge workout if done for the whole show. You don't have to do this to have fun but if you are able to do it safely I would recommend trying it once.
                                                                      How to Skank

     At around ten Streetlight took the stage and the crowd exploded, rushing in every direction to get as close to the stage as possible. The mosh pits opened up and band played like there was no tomorrow, which there won't be at the end of the year. At one point near the end of the show the singer said this is most likely that last time we will ever perform in your fine city, and the crowd responded by going bat shit crazy. Streetlight Manifesto is one the last great ska bands, that tour frequently at least. They will be sorely missed. They show was high energy straight to the end. They fired out 15 songs including songs from their new some what abandoned record. They even told us where on the internet the album could be found. So if you like ska, go see Streetlight Manifesto before they disappear for good. Screw you Victory Records.