Live Review: Mad Caddies, Voodoo Glow Skulls, The Bennies, Kissing Booth

Third wave ska is one of the more maligned genres, criticised for being derivative and unimaginative. More often than not, this is true – it can be incredibly difficult to tell the bands apart. Say what you will though, they sure know how to have fun in a live setting. And who best to do so than Mad Caddies, with compadres Voodoo Glow Skulls in tow.

Before there was ska though, there was Kissing Booth. They're far from a ska band, sounding more like Lemuria with their soft, fuzzy guitar tones and shared male and female vocals. Their short set is excellent; they're definitely a band to watch out for. The Bennies are next, for their first show with Jules Rozenbergs, their guitarist, back after getting injured in an incident on their February tour. They pull out all their usual tricks and antics and even try something new – Anty Horgan, the singer, successfully manages to “crowdskate”, getting passed around while standing on a skateboard.

Voodoo Glow Skulls open with a song that repeatedly announces “ska is your motivation”, not that the crowd need reminding. Before the singer has even come out (wearing a Mexican wrestling mask when he does) a mosh/skank pit has opened up and grows steadily throughout the set. Voodoo Glow Skulls have always had more of a hardcore edge compared to other ska punk bands. Accordingly, their songs only have two speeds – fast and faster. This is alright in small doses, but it makes the hour-long set become exhausting.

Mad Caddies have a reputation for raucous, fun live shows and they more than live up to it tonight. They play a number of crowd favourites (surprisingly) early on – Leaving and Backyard both appear within the first four songs. After a quick half hour of songs, they open it up for crowd requests; starting with one they “received from the internet”. They show off their diversity in the second half of the set; pulling out a dub instrumental (Down By The Riverside), a sea shanty (Weird Beard) and a cover of ABBA's SOS, which impresses purely for getting punks to sing and mosh to ABBA.

The Caddies' ability to mix things up makes the set fly by. They play for an hour and a half before being told to wrap things up. “I guess this is our last song then,” says singer Chuck Robertson, reluctantly. Coyote gets the job of closing the set and the crowd skank one last time for tonight. Third wave ska may be falling by the wayside, but Mad Caddies are making sure it goes down fighting.