Mad Caddies / The Corps / You Big Idiot / The Highsides – Live in Vancouver (02/17/2023)

Sometimes the build up to a concert can be based solely around one song. If the band plays that one singular song for you, the night will be a success no matter what else happens. If they miss it, the night could go either way.  Throughout the years I’ve been on both sides of the coin (I’m looking at you The Midnight, how could you not plays Kids?!?!) and for The Mad Caddies, that one song for me is always Leavin’.

That three minute burst of raw punk filled with angst, hopefulness and energy – it’s a song that needs to be played at any Caddies show. The fact that it was written about Chuck Robertson moving to Point Roberts, WA (essentially a suburb of Vancouver despite being in the US due to it’s isolated setup) means it’ll always make an appearance when the ska-legends are in town. Friday night at the Rickshaw was no exception. They played it and I was in heaven. Yet, their hour and a half set was much more than that three-minute cathartic explosion – and that was a damn good thing for everyone at the sold-out show.

There’s a reason that The Mad Caddies have been a band for close to thirty years, and it’s more than the fact that they’re ska-punk pioneers. To last in the punk world, you need a live show and the Caddies have perfected it down to a science. Their 20-ish song set list on Friday ebbed and flowed, building up to an explosion before pulling it back for a minute’s respite.

Opening the set with a trio of songs from Keep It Going – Lay Your Head Down, Backyard and Tired Bones; the first of two edged into the set with a laid back reggae style before amping up the speed and bringing out the dancing shoes for the third. As they mellowed it back down with their upstroke-cover of Green Day’s She, you knew right away how the set was going to be structured.

Going from Souls for Sale to Contraband or smooshing Weird Beard and Villains between Let It Go and Shoot Out The Lights – the set was perfectly balanced. Giving enough time for us old fogeys to catch out breath. And despite being 28 years into their career, the addition of a new song set to be released in June showed that The Caddies aren’t done yet.

While the main course of the evening was the Californian ska-act, the evening’s opening act was a trio of local Vancouver punk bands that showed how new bands can also command a crowd’s attention.  The Highsides were first up and pulled from the famed Org-core soundscape that The Fest as popularized. A rough and gravelly vocalist led the way, pulling influences from Red City Radio and Nothington and dash of Iron Chic for good measure. There were times they sounded a little thin in the mix, made all the more obvious when they were joined for one song by The Corps guitarist; nevertheless, the venue was already filling up and the crowd was getting into it – showing that the classic punk sound is still alive and well in Vancouver.

You Big Idiot were, frankly, idiots – and you loved them for it. They’re a band that dresses up in different themed costumes every show and Friday’s outfit was, appropriately, golfers. Holding up “quiet please” signs, they delved into their characters playing sound bites from Happy Gilmore and re-enacting the entire Marine-biologist Seinfeld finale. In between their goofiness, they powered through skate-punk anthems about donairs, Dumb & Dumber, getting drunk, and, of course, Seinfeld. They play as if a 2005 era Drive-Thru Records band had the technical speed and prowess of Pulley and Lagwagon. It doesn’t matter how many times you see them live, they’re simply fun.

The last of the three openers was The Corps – a straight forward, balls-to-the-walls skate punk band with the biggest local following in the crowd. Whether it was the sing along The Pocket or the catchy Dear Detective, the pit opened up as The Corps pummeled through a non-stop set of DOA inspired punk. Thirty minutes without a break and everyone was warmed up and ready for the main event.

A sold-out crowd.

Four solid sets.

Friday nights were meant to be spent this way.