Mad Caddies @ Les Foufounes Électriques

The moment Mad Caddies walk onto the stage tonight, something seems different from the last time they were in town, back in 2018; I don’t recognize a single person on stage. What on earth! Have I signed up for a tribute band?? It is in the small confines of Les Foufounes Électriques, after all. A quick Google search uncovers the truth; to quote from the Reddit thread:

“For those of you who aren’t up to speed, in 2020 [Mad Caddies frontman] Chuck posted several bizarre Instagram live sessions where he expressed anti-vax beliefs and showed a shift towards right-leaning politics. In one of the strangest of these, he was wandering around the halls of a hotel with a loaded handgun in what seemed to be a fit of paranoia. Shortly after these events, Chuck fired the entire band and is now the sole permanent member of the Mad Caddies.”

Wait, what? Looking up again, I realize it is Chuck at center stage; he’s just lost a ton of weight. Now I’m kinda nervous about how tonight is going to go…

As if the chaos behind the scenes in the months leading up to the show wasn’t enough, the band is forced to enlist Casey Lewis from tonight’s openers Belvedere on drums at short notice, and he fills in admirably after a great opening set with his own band. Chuck acknowledges midway through the set, “You wanna hear him play Mary Melody? He just learned it 2 hours ago!” You would never be able to tell; the band is tight, and the crowd loves every minute of it.

Indeed, the crowd is ready to go crazy right from the start. The set begins with the laid-back reggae beats of “Lay Your Head Down” and “Backyard,” and even then, the floor is packed. You just know it’s going to explode once the punkier songs kick in! Sure enough, the polka beats of “Tired Bones” are enough to ignite the fuse, and the pit erupts. There’s even a crowd-surfer during the mellow cover of Green Day’s “She”!

Chuck jokes mid-set that the band are all fathers now; “we should probably be called the ‘Dad Caddies!'” It’s reflected in the newer songs they play, either from the most recent records or even the unreleased ones; ska and reggae are certainly replacing punk as the weapon of choice as the band moves forward. Still, when older songs like “Contraband” and “Road Rash” make an appearance, they don’t miss a beat and are absolutely explosive. “Drinking for 11” and “Leavin” are absolutely timeless too, and songs I will always love, whatever version of Mad Caddies I am seeing.

Still, the show is not without its missteps. “Weird Beard” is extended with a back-and-forth between the trombone and the crowd that lasts so long that Chuck has the time to head to the balcony for a cigarette in the meantime. The 3-song encore consists of all-new songs that nobody has heard before, which is somewhat anticlimactic. Not to say they are bad songs; it just feels like the crowd is waiting for one more old song to go absolutely crazy to, like “Monkeys,” “The Gentleman,” or “Macho Nachos.” Alas, that moment never arrives, and the band leaves the stage after a mixed 90 minutes that has its moments, for sure, but ultimately never quite reaches the heights of their last visit.

Setlist:

  1. Lay Your Head Down
  2. Backyard
  3. Tired Bones
  4. She (Green Day cover)
  5. Brand New Scar
  6. Love Myself
  7. Leavin
  8. Mary Melody
  9. Beautiful Bed
  10. Contraband
  11. Road Rash
  12. Weird Beard
  13. Villains
  14. Shoot Out the Lights
  15. Drinking for 11
  16. Coyote

Encore:

  1. Where Did You Run To
  2. (Unknown)
  3. Palm Trees and Pines

Review – Simon Williams
Photos – Kieron Yates

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