Chris DeLine

Despite having been a band since 1990, Reel Big Fish didn’t really make waves until ska’s revival in the mid-to-late ’90s, when the band had their biggest hit to date, “Sell Out.” Later, they appeared in Trey Parker and Matt’s Stone’s spoof comedy BASEketball, in which they performed a rendition of a-ha’s “Take on Me.” Potentially it was simply a coincidence, potentially it was foreshadowing, but the band would go on to cover nearly a dozen other hits on their most recent album, Fame, Fortune and Fornication. From Poison to John Mellencamp to Desmond Dekker, Reel Big Fish cover them all, a few of that album’s songs are likely to break out at the live show. The band members are also presently in the process of recording another album of original songs, which is scheduled for release later this year. Also performing will be one of the bands Reel Big Fish covered on FFF, the English Beat. All ages.

[This critics’ pick was originally published by City Pages.]