Dirty Reggae Sauce
Having toured with Madness and provided the musical backing for Tim Armstrong’s solo album it’s no surprise that Aggrolites play ska and they fit in well to the ska heavy line up on the Lock Up stage today.
They arrive on stage all dressed in black shirts and with keyboards instead of brass they go into a slow paced, bass heavy ska tune. The opening song features a big sing along chorus and it feels like they are warming the crowd up nicely. The performance is quite entertaining early on as well with guitarist Brian Dixon pulling off some amusing moves. The Hammond style keyboards give them an authentic feel and it’s a strong opening but from then on they just don’t seem to go anywhere.
All the songs are mid-paced at best and there’s really nothing much to get excited about. Singer Jesse Wagner asks the crowd to go crazy but then they play another two slow songs, not sure how you’re meant to go crazy to that? They do get a fair few dancing though but by the end of the set it’s become tired and it’s all just too one paced (however well done it may be).
It also becomes clear that this is more aligned to old school ska, there isn’t a hint of punk influence and whilst that has it’s place this is the Lock Up stage! The advent of heavy rain outside swells the crowd dramatically and as they finish with ‘Dirty Reggae’ going into ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ they get a great reaction. Fair play to them, they do their thing well but today at least we’re not feeling it.