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Pepper
| August 24th, 2008 @ Pier 6 |
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by Courtney Campbell
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So when I saw the police and security outside the venue surrounding a kid with a bloody face during the first of three bands, I just knew this was going to be a crazy night. The Tailgate 2008 Summer Tour featuring Pepper and Slightly Stoopid was stopping in Baltimore at Pier 6. By the time Slightly Stoopid went on, over 300 people had been thrown out of the venue; most of them were for underage drinking. So I'm thinking young crowd but not as young as the punk-pop bands I go to see. Mostly a college aged crowd with a few there that would throw off the curve. This was a beer drinking, pot smoking crowd and kept security busy all night long.
Pepper hit the stage after a set from Sly & Robbie. Hailing originally from Hawaii, these transplanted Californian's are known for their mix of reggae, dub and rock. Seriously, or maybe I should say nothing should be taken seriously about this night, but anyway I could use the analogy of Pepper is to reggae as Blink 182 was to punk rock. This band reminded me so much of Blink 182 back in the earlier days of Blink 182. Their in between song banter was so reminescent of Blink.
The band came out on stage sporting shocking blond hair on guitarist/singer Kaleo Wassman and blond curls on bassist/singer Bret Bollinger. Not having seen them before I was a bit confused with this since in their photos they looked nothing like this. It was like a joke upon themselves. Musically they are enjoyable to listen to but I really thought the stage show took away from that. Sorry I wasn't drunk or high, maybe that's what the problem was for me.
So Pepper is on tour in support of their new album Pink Crustaceans and Good Vibrations. They played songs from that and previous albums but Pepper is a band that doesn't make a set list out. They choose the first few songs that they will play and then do the rest on the fly. The crowd was definitely into them and made me think I was back at a college party.
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