Nostalgia can be a weird thing. I don't remember being a big fan of The Amazing Royal Crowns back in the 90's. I was anti-The Amazing Royal Crowns, but I never sought them out. They just happened to be playing a bunch of shows I was already going to. but once I saw that they were playing their first show in at least ten years at The Sinclair, I bought a ticket immediately. The fact that Skavoovie and The Epitones were playing their first local show in twenty-five years along with Spring Heeled Jack were just a bonus.
Opening the show was Lady Hatchet Quartet, a four woman ska band. (I didn't know you could legally have a ska band with that few members...) Let by Lady Hatchet (aka Kristin Forbes who has played with The Slackers, The Toasters, as well as other legendary ska bands), they played an incredibly fun and light set of ska songs. It was really everything you want in a ska set. You could easily dance to it, and they were a perfect choice to get the crowd warmed up. I feel like the audience wanted to get more into it, but were conserving their energy for a long night, as most of us were in our forties and fifties.
Up next was Spring Heeled Jack, who represented the ska-punk contingent of the evening. They're a band I know more by name, but am familiar with some songs of theirs like "Jolene" (which isn't a Dolly Parton cover) and "Waiting, Watching," which were given a new life at a live show. The Connecticut band currently includes Chris Rhodes on trumpet, who I haven't seen live since the Mighty Mighty Bosstones split up. It was great seeing him live once again. The strong portion of the audience was there for Spring Heeled Jack, to the point that "Jenni," which was officially released three days before the show, also got a huge reaction and a giant sing-a-long.
We got a break from ska for the return of The Amazing Royal Crowns. The crowd erupted for the return of the punked up rockabilly legends. This was actually their second show back as they played a surprise Providence show the week before. Any concern about their rust was gone within seconds, and they sounded possibly even better than ever. Songs like "King of the Joint," "1965 G.t.o.," and "Fireball Stomp" were all welcomed by the crowd. Jason "King" Kendall might not be able to jump into the audience like he used to (Kendall almost died last year and required a kidney transplant), but he still attacked every song with the same ferocity, even if he needs to take more breaks to catch his breath. Guitarist J.D. Burgess might be the most underrated guitarist in all of New England, and I could not be happier to have The Amazing Royal Crowns back, to whatever level they choose to be.
Closing out the evening was Skavoovie and The Epitones, playing their first hometown show since 1999. They reformed for the 2024 Supernova International Ska Festival, a reunion that will hopefully be continuing past this last weekend. Taking the stage with a five person horn section (more horns than Lady Hatchet Quartet has members!), I kept losing count of how many people were on stage. I believe it was either ten or eleven. They play a more classic and traditional version of ska, with minimal lyrics and mostly instrumentals that focused on the horns. They were delightful live, and were much more chill than the previous bands. It took me a bit to come down from The Amazing Royal Crowns, and once I did I was able to truly enjoy some classic ska. Somehow Skavoovie and The Epitones showed no sign of rust over the past two decades, and hopefully this wasn't a one-off weekend.
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