Aquabats first ever show in London!
On a gloomy night at the Islington academy, fans of cartoon inspired ska band the Aquabats were able to see them play their first ever show in London, headlining the 'Good to Go' European tour. With 7 releases and 10 years worth of experience, the Aquabats had a colossal back-catalogue to choose their set from and the fact that it was the Aquabat's first tour in the UK meant that very few people could be disappointed in regard to what they played.
After two rather irritating support bands, the crowd became a bit anxious and following 2nd band Never Heard Of It left the stage, the crowd's chants for the headlining band grew to a lively roar which left them waiting for the D.J to cue the band's entrance. The peculiar thing about the Aquabats show is that it wasn't your normal gig, the band came on stage dressed in super heroes costumes and video footage plays on a widescreen behind them whilst they dance around to their synth influenced ska.
So after a short film on the widescreen explaining how the Aquabats were formed, the Quintet dived straight into the first track of the band's latest release; 'Fashion Zombies'. The band had the audience eating out of their hands with MC Bat Commander striking a lot of poses and adding an astoundingly positive atmosphere to the show.
Even though the band were over to promote latest full-length 'Charge!' They did play some classics such as 'Super Rad' off 1997's 'The Fury of the Aquabats' and 'Pizza Day' from the B-sides collection. The old school classics were also complemented with more recent tunes such as 'Nerd Alert!' and 'Look At Me, I'm a Winner!'
The Aquabats didn't just play a live show, they played an almost variety performance. They had advertisements every so often for novelty items and halfway through their set; the evil 'Cobrahead' entered the stage and attempted to end the show early. Luckily Jaime the Robot managed to scare off the villain with his saxophone and the band finished with fan favourites 'Pool Party' and 'Martian Girl'.
Although the band are certainly nerdy and not to be considered serious in any aspect of their music, it was amazing to see people from all over just genuinely having a good time at a music show. For me personally the Aquabats are my cup of tea at all but their live show made me laugh and I enjoyed myself. The Aquabats are right; they are saving the world with their unique brand of entertainment.