Preparing for the very last Reggie & the Full Effect show ever is preparing for the end of an era. I’m happy to report, though, that his choice of Philadelphia was perfect, not only because Philadelphia fucking loves James Dewees, but because he debuted the live Reggie & the Full Effect show in Philadelphia years ago when touring with some other band he was in called The Get Up Kids.
I arrived at the Trocadero just before MC Chris, a rather grating rapper, took the stage, as I had zero interest in the other two openers. MC Chris is the most nasally rapper in existence and has almost no discernible talent. His set was funny for the first minute, but then the joke went 44 more minutes too long. I have to believe that he fancies himself a comedian over a rapper as he could only possibly appeal to kids who love shitty pop punk and Gym Class Heroes.
MC Chris
Relief came in the form of a set change and then James Dewees’ appearance on stage, decked out in full K.I.S.S. face paint. He launched into the set playing beloved Reggie songs like Your Girlfriends Hate Me” while spending a lot of time interacting with the crowd and regaling the audience with tales of his previous tour experiences here in the City of Brotherly Love. The best stories by any Get Up Kid always involve A.C. Lerock, a homeless man always encountered when the band stopped through Philadelphia.
Dewees, in a blonde wig and Hannah Montana apparel he’d purchased at WalMart earlier that day, and his backing band rocked hard, powering through a slew of Reggie favorites including “What The Hell Is Content?,” “Thanks For Dumping Me,” “Better For You,” “Girl Why’d You Run Away?,” “From Me To You,” “J-Train” and many more. A massive mosh pit tore up the middle of the large venue when the obligatory Slayer cover was played, and afterwards Dewees convinced the crowd to call him ‘Turbo’ from that point on.
In addition to the oblig. Slayer cover came the also obligatory Fluxuation in all its cheesy Eurotrash glory and Common Denominator. For the latter, Dewees came back on stage after the briefest of brief intermissions covered in fake blood. MC Chris appeared on the stage in a Darth Vader costume, killing Common Denominator one by one in an almost symbotic and poetic ending for Reggie and the Full Effect.
Reggie and the Full Effect:Â myspace
