King Street Hotel, Newcastle
Thursday 29 August 2024
Photographer/Reviewer : Kevin Bull
It was with great pleasure that we found ourselves driving up the M1 on a school night to catch Melbourne Ska Orchestra. Each time that I’ve caught these guys live, it’s a show that I’ll bring up in conversation over the next 6 months, and tonight I was able to introduce a “new pair of ears” to the band.
If you have not seen MSO live, let me paint the picture. A 20+ piece band, a dozen of these playing brass, and two hours of the best “skank” producing music. Take this and place them on a stage that is nice and contained, and a crowd that is up front and close. The energy that is able to be produced onstage is contagious, animated and engaging, vocalist and lead MSO, Nicky Bomba takes us on his dance trip.
Scanning the crowd you can see that for many of those here, this was not their first MSO rodeo. Crowd favourites ‘He’s a Tripper’ and ‘Lygon St Meltdown’ raised the temperature, and the ‘Get Smart’ theme is a dance party from the opening riff.
An mentioned in my opening, I am yet to see a bad Melbourne Ska Orchestra live show and tonight’s did not disappoint. And what did those “new pair of ears” think of the night? Well, the party girl has found her new party band. Boom-Chaka-Laka.
