A happy, hefty and enthused Intersection throng greeted the Grand Rapids ska maestros who kicked out fan faves and new songs from the band’s “Can Contain It” album.
Unbridled Ska: David Kirchgessner and Mustard Plug uncorked a lively holiday show at The Intersection on Sunday. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
By Alec Juarez
LocalSpins.com
Support our coverage of
West Michigan's music scene
Traditions can easily become tedious, but Mustard Plug isn’t about to ever tone down its annual holiday concert at The Intersection in Grand Rapids.
Indeed, Sunday night’s show by the West Michigan ska band qualified as exceptionally grand, doubling as a release show for the band’s new album “Can’t Contain It” on the Florida-based punk label No Idea Records.
Mustard Man Un-Plugged (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
After opening the concert with songs from the band’s ’90s catalog, frontman David Kirchgessner announced that, “This is my New Year’s,” and the band accordingly launched into “The All-Nighter” party anthem and lead single off the new record.
Kirchgessner exhausted every ounce of energy he had on stage, leaping into every song with gusto while the crowd shouted back the lyrics to familiar tunes.
The holiday show – which also featured performances by The Mixtapes, The Pinstripes, Three Cents Short and Dagger Down – rolled out an even mixture of old fan favorites and tracks from the new record, with band mascot “Mustard Man” dancing back and forth across the stage throughout the set. The crowd matched the band’s energy, moshing and skanking with enthusiasm through every number.
As has become tradition, the band played “The Beer Song” as its main set finale, leaving the crowd to continue singing the song’s hook in the dark until Mustard Plug dashed back on stage to tear through three more classic hits.
It all left happy fans leaving the venue with deafened ears and lost voices after experiencing an annual tradition that’s always worth repeating.
Check out the Local Spins photos by Anthony Norkus here.
Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
Copyright 2013, Spins on Music
