Date: Wednesday, October 29th, 2010
Line up: Pepper, Mishka & Pour Habit
Location: The Fox Theater, Boulder, CO.
Article:
Pepper is once again on tour promoting their latest E.P. titled Stiches. Appropriately named Like a Surgeon Tour, These guys make the best of their time on stage dressing like surgeons and using the fans as their project on the operating table. On October 29th, The Pier attended The Fox Theater in Boulder, Colorado to get a glimpse inside Pepper’s E.R.
Opening the night for this event was Pour Habit, a punk rock band from Compton, California whose hard driving energy quickly turned the crowd of college kids, skaters, rastas and punk rockers into a mosh-pitting frenzy. I was a little surprised by this band playing on this leg of the tour considering their extremely high energy and night and
day sound in comparison to the other acts. They might have been a better fit for a tour featuring Kottonmouth Kings and Guttermouth, though Pepper has toured with these acts in years past as well.
Taking the stage next was Mishka, whose island grooves and positive message rang through the entire theater, triggering a smoke cloud which set the pace for the rest of the evening. Towards the end of Mishka’s set, a group of Pepper fans began to chant Pepper!…Pepper! Anybody that has attended a Pepper show is familiar with this chanting, yet, I found these fans to be an annoying disruption of a great set from Mishka. I was, however, looking forward to an inevitably great show from Pepper.
As the lights came back on after Mishka’s set, the crowed forced their way outside and to the merch booths to pick up band shwag and smoke as many cigarettes as possible before Pepper came on. As I stayed back and talked with fans of Pepper and The Pier about the music we all love, the stage began to transform into a Pepper modified E.R. and over the intermission music rang out, Paging Dr. Williams, which interrupted our conversation and we all laughed. Next it was Paging Dr. Bollinger and Paging Dr. Wassman and the stage was set for the show to begin.
The lights went down and the fans filed in as Pepper took the stage playing B.O.O.T. 
The crowd erupted into screams and cheers after only one song. Over a sea of bobbing heads, Brett stepped up to the mic and said We should cancel tomorrow night so we can stay with you in Boulder tonight! Again, the crowd was frenzied.
Ten songs into the set, Pepper invited Mishka back on stage to play Mishka’s song Lonely. This was by far my favorite part of the night.
Ashes was the last song of the set before the encore. Instead of the traditional oh, oh, ohh chanting intro, the guys used We don’t wanna go and the crowd followed right along. The guys quickly walked off stage to hydrate and prepare for the encore as the crowd was filled with anticipation.
Pepper came back on stage to a roaring crowd that had just as much energy, if not more, than when they began their set earlier in the night. Your Face started the encore which led to Zicky’s Song, Freeze, Mirror, Give It Up and finally, to close the night, Pepper blew the roof off with an amazing cover of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit.
This concert was a lot of fun. I have personally been going to Pepper shows since 2001 and they continue to get better and better. Their themed theatrics in recent years adds a whole new level of fun and entertainment to an already explosive live show. Hat’s off to the three piece from Kona, Hawaii. These guys are at the top of their game.
Pepper’s Set List:
B.O.O.T
Love Affair
Nice Time
Green Hell
Point and Shoot
Drunk Girls
Like Your Style
Storm Trooper
No Control
Lonely
Dry Spell
Crazy Love
Ho’s
Stone Love
Ashes
Encore:
Your Face
Zicky’s Song
Freeze
Mirror
Give it Up
Smells Like Teen Spirit
– Article by: Chad Hillje
– Edited by: Kyle Hillje
– Photos by: Mark Franzen
Here is video from the night of Yesod stage diving in celebration of his b/day.
