SHOW REVIEW: RX Bandits
LOCATION: The ROXY theater - Hollywood, CA
October 20, 2006
You know that feeling when you have a secret that is so good that you don't want to share it. Like the fact that there is still good Halloween candy in a bag in the back of the cabinet. Or that place with the cheap shoes that look like they are really expensive.
RX Bandits could be Ska/Reggae's best kept secret.
Ask 50 people on the street to name a song by the Bandits, and maybe, if you are lucky, one will give you a correct answer. But, that one person will also know every single song by the Bandits, all the lyrics, and all the members.
That's because RX Bandits fans have kept this little band as a secret, only letting their best friends know about the marvel that the Bandits can create. These diehard followers are the ones that sell out the shows each night, and while the Bandits can sell out the most renowned clubs like the Roxy, they still aren't household names.
But, with performances like the one on October 20th, one wonders how long Bandits can stay under the radar.
Ninja Academy opened up for the Bandits, proving that you can entertain a crowd with a guitar and a drum - as long as you have kung fu skills and a girl dressed up as a geisha. The Nurses just confused everyone with their Indie sound, which coupled with ska-reggae-punkers did not work out.
It was all forgiven when the Bandits took the stage.
It’s hard to tell when one song ended and one song began. The Bandits played to the mood of the crowd, playing each emotion and letting everyone soak in the essence of music. It's hard to find a performance these days where you can dance, you can sweat, you can stand still, you can sit, and you can feel exactly the same each time you do each different thing. It was perfection for the genre of music that they Bandits play- something that I, a first time Bandits fan and now devotee can recognize. The Roxy performance was one of those you could go home and tell your friends, "You should have been there on October 20th"
Then again, like other Bandits fans, I might just not tell anyone else.
~Magic Stick Mish