Date: Saturday, Oct 1st, 2011
Line up: The Aggrolites & Pellander-Z
Location: Guanabanas, Jupiter Fl
What: Unleased Fall Tour 2011
Space is always limited at Guanabanas in Jupiter, Fl but when The Aggrolites were in the house on Oct. 1st, 2011 you were lucky if you had a single square foot of space to dance. But nobody seemed to mind (besides the waitress’ who got an entire beer spilled on her before the show even started). With the stage lit almost solely by strands of multi-colored twinkle lights, and an unfamiliar cool breeze in the air, the show seemed very intimate and exclusive even though it was free.
The Aggrolites took the stage around 9:30pm and without saying a word immediately got the crowd moving with “Funky Fire”. They kept the energy up by flowing directly into one of their best instrumentals. You don’t usually hear bands play an instrumental song during a live show, but when it’s as good as “Thunder Clap”, I say why not?
The sound quality was impeccable and every note, not to mention the lush tone of front man Jesse Wagner’s voice, sounded exactly like it does on the albums. I’ve been to too many shows where the album sounds great, but live, the band just doesn’t deliver. It makes you realize how fundamentally talented The Aggrolites really are, and it made me feel lucky to be in their presence.
I only wish they could have pumped up the volume at Guanabanas. But in Jupiter, FL there is a noise ordnance in place that states all live music must remain under a certain volume and stop at 11pm. Local owners and residents constantly attend town hall meetings to try and reverse the limitations on live music, but as of yet they’ve been unsuccessful.
Since time was limited they ran through some of their biggest hits including “Work to Do”, “Jimmy Jack”, “Firecracker”, and “Complicated Girl”. The space in front of the stage was already filled with dancing bodies but bass player Jeff Roffredo still called out for more. He enticed the crowd as they sailed off into another solid instrumental, “Lightning and Thunder”, and by the time the song was over the dance floor was officially an impenetrable wall of people.
“This next one goes out to the Yo Gabba Gabba crowd,” said Wagner as the boys started playing Banana. I thought it was the funniest thing – the entire crowd, including myself, dancing and yelling out “Everybody like it – Banana!” I had no idea that The Aggrolites were actually on an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba until I Googled it later!
With
only about 30 mintues left to the impending 11pm limit the guys announced that they were going to play a tribute to “the masters” as they pulled out a cover of The Upsetters classic song – “Precious and Few”. After mixing in a few more of their own songs like “Prisoner’s Song”, “Freetime”, and “Mr. Misery” they played the song I was waiting for all night long – “Dirty Reggae”!
When they announced they only had time for one more song, I knew they were serious. There are never any encores at Guanabanas. But, the band must have felt our frustration because they pulled out a cover of The Beatles “Don’t Let Me Down”, that kept the party going until the very last chord. They had the crowd clap and sing along, adding to the intimacy of the show. I wasn’t sitting in the nose-bleed section or watching them on a jumbo screen, they were right in front of me. When the show was over the crowd just stood in silence; I don’t think any of us knew what to do with ourselves after such a killer performance.
– Article & Photos by: Ashley Allred
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