Reel Big Fish & Goldfinger, 9:30 Club, Washington, DC

Lesson of the Day: Don’t wear sandals in a mosh pit

I had certainly heard of both Reel Big Fish and Goldfinger and remember their moderate popularity in the 90’s along with other punk/ska bands of the day, but I was not too familiar with their music and probably could not even name one of their minor hits with any confidence. But in I’m always up for a show, even more with the likelihood of moving to Chicago is almost a certainty. Like Modest Mouse the previous week, the crowd was older and mostly male. We had a fairly similar spot, perhaps a little closer. Goldfinger was the first to take the stage. As they stepped out, it was clear they were clearly a group of middle aged guys, but they nonetheless brought the energy of a bunch of newbies.

As I knew it was a ska show, I was anticipating a lot of dancing. However, what I didn’t anticipate was all the moshing, perhaps because I didn’t realize how punk the show would also be. A mosh pit developed within a few minutes of the show starting and I quickly realized that getting a good spot before the show started was not really necessary. I had not been in a mosh pit for a little while, so I rushed from the middle of the venue up to within a few rows of the front and got right in the mix of it all. It was hot, sweaty, and a little gross, but fun, even though I wasn’t all that familiar or into the music. It was a very rambunctious crowd; the people in the pit were throwing themselves about, effectively opening up the middle of the floor and rushing from one side to the other, with Goldfinger egged them on. It certainly was exhausting as well. Everyone played the game well though, acting respectfully, like stopping to help find lost flip flops and immediately helping the fallen to their feet.

However, not anticipating what I would be getting myself into, I made the mistake of wearing Chacos. And while they’re very comfortable, they do very little to protect the top of your feet from people stepping on them. At first, it was just a minor annoyance, but as the night wore on and my toes became more tender, the series of slight missteps of my fellow concert goers onto my toes grew unbearable. So toward the end of Goldfinger, the breaks I would take out of the mosh pit to catch my breath and let the pain in my feet dissipate grew longer and my forays into middle grew shorter. I ended up knowing only one Goldfinger song, one I recognized from a Tony Hawk Playstation game in the early 2000’s.

After an hour or so of Goldfinger, Reel Big Fish took the stage as well. Fortunately, their show required a little less moshing (though still plenty) and a little more dancing. Considering the shape of my feet though, that was fine with me. Again, I only knew a few songs. Actually, the ones that I knew were because they were regularly covered by Free Lobster Buffet, the normal extent of my ska concerts.

The night was a little different from my normal concert going experience but it’s always good to keep yourself open to new experiences.