Reel Big Fish – HMV Forum 27/02/2009 | Dead By Sunrise Photography

When Reel Big Fish make the long awaited return to London, you know a party is imminent. It’s time to strap on your dancing shows and get ready for what will be a trip down memory lane for many in the audience.

REEL BIG FISH

SUBURBAN LEGENDS

RANDOM HAND

Random Hand kick off the night’s entertainment with an immensely energetic and tight set. Hailing from Yorkshire, this 4 piece receive a great reception from the crowd and it is totally deserved. Frontman Robin Leitch leapt pretty much all over the stage in between his trombone playing and manic vocals so much that it was hard to keep track of him. With a still half empty Forum watching, they do a great job of getting the people who got in early to going a bit crazy…. And you can’t ask of any more from a support band.

Second on the bill are Suburban Legends. It’s difficult to know what to make of them…. they are a strange musical beast in deed. On one hand there is the energetic yet unremarkable pop-ska, the well delivered tunes, and a great deal going on during the set. Then there is the dancing. It’s like watching Britney’s backing-dancers covering Less Than Jake songs. It’s entertaining enough… but you just can’t help but hope that they would just get on with things. All of the in-between song banter stops the flow of things far too often and in the end the set seems to drag on. On the whole they got a decent reception and for the music they deserved it….

“REEL BIG FISH, REEL BIG FISH!” chant the crowd during the pretty quick change over. Are you ready to party London? Kicking off with ‘Trendy’ and followed up with ‘Another FU Song’, the night is straight away panning out to be a set full of memories. It actually take Aaron Barret two attempts to get though ‘Another FU Song’, and not wanting to short change the fans, he starts the gig again. Everybody’s doing the Fish! The crowd are in full flow and you can feel the floor vibrating as they dance. There are surprisingly few croudsurfers early on, but that could have been due to no-one standing still for long enough to pick anyone up. Little Johnny Christmas and Dan Regan bounce and dance continuously along with the crowd, both band and audience feeding off each other. Little Johnny’s stage costume is particularly memorable looking like something he stole from Roy Chubby Brown.

In-between the old hits and the intro to Enter Sandman we are treated to a few covers from the album they are over here to promote. ‘Nothing But a Good Time’ originally by Poison is the first we hear from ‘Fame Fortune & Fornication’, not quite up to scratch with the original, but a decent reworking all the same.

A few more songs and welcome covers eventually lead us to a mass singalong for ‘She Has a Girlfriend Now’ and ‘Beer’, two definite highlights of the set. As the night pans out everyone is waiting for the final song… not because they have had enough, but because it is the Fish at their best. ‘Take on Me’ , the cover of Ah-Ha’s 80’s pop cheese is as memorable and riotous as ever and the perfect way to end any party. The only problem now is getting the damn song out of your head!