Arts & Entertainment

Fat Tour fans go mad for Caddies

By Amber Lanphier
The Daily Cougar

When I moved to Houston a friend told me that Fitzgeraldis was basically being boycotted by a lot of kids on the punk scene. Consequently, I never checked the place out until last Thursday when the 2003 Fat Tour came through town. 

The bands on the tour consist of those under the Fat Wreck Chords label, which is home to such favorites as Lagwagon and NOFX.

First of all, parking was horrible. After driving around for twenty minutes searching for a spot, I found one three blocks away from the venue.

The Real McKenzies was up first, and its members were definitely a weird sight. Imagine men in their 30s in kilts, tights, sporrans (those weird belt things) sporting mohawks. 

The band whipped through its set complete with wailing bag pipes and lots of beer. Their sound is best described as a folky version of the Sex Pistols. 

This band, which pays tribute to everything Scottish, was quite entertaining even though itis sad lead singer Paul McKenzie hides his great voice in the bandis stage antics.

Next up was a band from Chicago called Rise Against. There was nothing special about this band, and its set was way too long and drawn out.

Rise Against sounds just like so many of the other bands out now, such as Boy Sets Fire. Donit get me wrong, these guys can play, but thereis nothing in their music that hasnit been done twenty times before. 

Lead singer Tim McIlrath had a Zach de la Rocha complex. After spouting off his views about how wrong the war in Iraq is, McIlrath the band went into the appropriately titled "Blood Red, White, and Blue." This song got the crowd going. 

A wannabe mosh pit formed, made up of fourteen-year-old boys wanting to vent some pent-up aggression. 

From talking to people at the show, I learned this is the main problem with Fitz. The venue allows all ages in, which in turn drives away people who just arenit down with hanging with teenagers.

The last band on the bill was the Mad Caddies. It blazed through a set filled with tunes about the beach, love and life. 

The trumpet and trombone players were amazing. Mad Caddies has the Southern California feel one gets from early stuff by No Doubt and Sublime. The crowd filled out a lot more once the ska-punks took the stage and was really receptive to the bands set. 

Fat Wreck Chords Tour

Fitzgeraldis

The verdict: The show was all right, but not spectacular.

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