Skegss at the Fonda: Exploration in the Purest Form
A show at the Fonda that included everything from crowd surfs to circle pits to lit joints.
A common theme throughout Skegss latest record Pacific Highway Music is one of exploration. An exploration of space (the space system and the space around us) and a hope that through exploration you’ll not only experience a sense of freedom but also through this exploration get a deeper understanding of oneself.
Though I had only been a fan of Skegss for a little less than a year, they've quickly become one of my favorites. During the lead up to the show I obsessed over this theme of exploration on the record and as I walked into the Fonda Sunday night came in with the intent to explore the unfamiliar.
From the second they strolled on stage the energy in the venue was already dense. Being the final act of the night and coming on stage only fifteen minutes or so after the punk band The Mainliners it made sense that by the time they got on stage the entire audience was waiting in anticipation for the journey we were about to go on together.
Opening with their song “Valhalla” the band tells audiences from the onset that it’s now, right now here at the Fonda, that we were all going to create our own Valhalla.
All the ale you can inhale
All the food you can consume
All my friends at the table
Everything I’d die for in one room
This would turn out to be a teaser of sorts as for the next ninety minutes or so I and everyone else in that venue were standing alongside one another in Valhalla.
For the entirety of their set Ben Reed, with sunglasses and shoulder length curly blonde hair, looking like Blake Anderson’s younger Aussie brother sang in his unique vocal styling that got me into the band in the first place. It’s not “perfect” (didn’t expect to walk in and hear Michael Bublé') but there’s this carefree crackle that makes you as a listener lean in closer.
Kelton, the current bassist of the group, was someone in the group I was least familiar with but one that had my attention the entire show. Was it possibly because he took off his shirt early on in the set making the girls (and I) swoon and audibly say to ourselves “he’s hot”? Quite possibly but his talent nonetheless shined through.
Kelton throughout the show also asked audience members to pick up those that may have fallen while in the circle pit that was formed in the middle of the floor. This was something that in all honesty made me respect him even more as I strongly believe as much as it’s securities job to keep everyone safe most audience members don’t even listen to what they have to say. This was pretty evident as I stood near an emergency exit lane lane and security had to tell the same people multiple times throughout the show to not stand in that specific area. When there wasn’t a circle pit though there was something else going on that I had seen a few times at other shows but never this repeatedly. The crowd surf.
I’ve always found crowd surfing to be a fascinating phenomenon. In any other context expecting people around you who you may have never even met previously to lift you up and move you forward is absurd. It only works in very specific moments and even in those moments you have to pray that the people around you have enough upper body strength to help carry you forward. Sometimes if you don’t time it correctly the people in front of you become unwilling participants in a crowd surf. I can remember vividly two girls Sunday night getting dropped from above people's heads resulting in an audible gasp from the people around me. But being dropped from up high like a move straight out of WWE didn’t stop either of them. Very quickly after I saw them being dropped they were lifted back up and crowd surfed to the front of the stage.
Now I’m personally not a crowd surfing type (crowd surfé?). Not only am I not huge with people touching me but you’re also putting your body in the hands of people you don’t know. At the same time though there is an appeal to that latter point. There’s something that bonds the entire audience during a show. It’s a love of music, a love of the band, a wanting to let go and release all of this pent up energy you’ve had since you clicked purchase on that ticketing site. And as much as you don’t know any of these people you’re putting your body on the line for in the back of your mind you know that every single one of you share this specific and unique bond. It’s not necessarily peoples upper body strength that carries you forward but really a shared love for the band and the music. Forward towards the stage and closer and closer to the band that you love and creating a sacred moment that you’ll ultimately never forget.
In many ways that’s the appeal of concerts. A set place you’re allowed to do anything (within reason of course) whilst listening and enjoying one of your favorite bands live. It’s pure ecstasy. I didn’t realize until seeing the band live how much of this theme of exploration would be found in Skegss live shows. The whole point of even going to concerts is to explore. Explore and find new things you may have otherwise not even known about yourself. And whether you’re crowd surfing or in a circle pit or trying to sneakily light a joint behind your friends back, everyone in that venue is in a state of exploration. A state of exploration alongside a thousand or so other people who joined you along the ride.
Skegss was in all honesty one of the best live performers I’ve seen in a while. I had heard through the grapevine (i.e. Reddit) that the band was great live but I wasn’t expecting at all what I experienced. The band ended their set with one of my favorite songs of theirs and one that I think perfectly described the night.
Well, I'm gonna try real good, swear that I'm gonna try
From now on and for the rest of my life
I'm gonna power on, I'm gonna enjoy the highs
And the lows will come and go
And may your dreams
And may your dreams
And may your dreams never die
- Stranger Days