Tailgate Tour - Slightly Stoopid, Pepper, Sly & Robbie and The Expendables

9 August 2008

Greek Theater, Berkeley

Reviewed by Joe Fantozzi

When the Tailgate 2008 Tour came to Berkeley’s Greek Theater I already knew it was going to be awesome, having seen Slightly Stoopid play there with Ozomatli and G Love & Special Sauce during last year’s Summer Haze Tour. The Greek is a great venue, and when its jam packed with Stoopidheads and the weather is nice it’s a magical place to be. Still, even last year’s show couldn’t have prepared me for Tailgate 2008; with The Expendables, Sly & Robbie and Taxi Gang, Pepper and Slightly Stoopid on the bill - it was sure to be a great show.

My friends and I arrived in Berkeley at noon even though the show didn’t start until six, thinking that since this was the Tailgate Tour we would tailgate in the parking lot for a few hours. After driving around for a while looking for parking and asking a security guy in front of the tour buses where we should go to tailgate, we ended up in a parking lot right above the theater. We could see the stage from the railing in front of our truck. It turned out that we couldn’t grill there, and nobody else showed up to tailgate until long after we arrived. It was still worth getting there early though, as we got a chance to watch Slightly Stoopid soundcheck. The band played Blood of my Blood a few times, and This Joint; in between we yelled down to them that it sounded good. It was like getting a little private show before the real show.

After we watched them soundcheck we walked down the hill again toward the street and the entrance to the theater, and saw Miles from Slightly Stoopid in the parking lot near the tour buses. We walked over and shook hands with him and talked for a minute and he told us Half Pint was there that night too. Getting to meet Miles was great, he seemed like a really nice guy and it made the show that much better to have gotten to meet him before seeing Slightly Stoopid onstage that night.

When the show finally started at six, we were pumped up and ready to go, joints at the ready and right by the railing at the left side of the stage. The Expendables were on first, and as always they tore it up, playing Expendables classics like Bowl for Two and War Cry. It only played about a half hour set, but the crowd got into it right away. Still there was plenty of time for the theater to fill with the first few wafts of ganja smoke for the night and to run around the mosh pit a couple times during the faster songs.

The next group to take the stage was Sly & Robbie and Taxi Gang, reggae legends and probably the most prolific rhythm section ever. The duo has played with the likes of Peter Tosh, Black Uhuru, and Dennis Brown, not to mention non-reggae acts like the Rolling Stones and Joe Cocker. It was great to finally get to see them live, and the rhythm was so powerful and so tight that I closed my eyes and just felt it rolling through me; I loved getting to see some classic old-school reggae along with the newer reggae rock of the other bands. The rest of its group was really good too, particularly Cherine Anderson, a reggae queen with a beautiful voice and killer dance moves. Among other songs, she sang the Bob Marley classic Redemption Song, which has always been one of my favorites. She sang it beautifully with lots of emotion and it was wonderful.

After Sly and Robbie was Pepper; the threesome took to the stage with bassist/vocalist Brett Bollinger wearing a mullet wig, which was pretty funny. Pepper played plenty of songs off its new album Pink Crustaceans and Good Vibrations, such as Freeze, and also lots of older favorites like Your Face. The crowd went crazy for Pepper; the guys especially seemed to be a favorite of the ladies. Pepper put on a great show – they’re like wild men onstage, and it rubs off on the crowd. Everyone was movin’ and groovin’ and loving the music.

By the time Slightly Stoopid came out it was starting to get dark; the crowd was already comfortably stoned; and the theater was packed and everyone was excited. Stoopid played in front of a banner of the old Slightly Stoopid skull smoking a joint, rather than a banner of the tour artwork or of its new album like I’ve seen them do on previous tours. I love that skull, so I thought that was pretty cool. When they came out, the crowd went crazy – the stage and front part of the crowd filled with large multicolored balloons and Stoopid started it off with what I think they call the OGRymo Drum Thing, transitioning straight from that into Wicked Rebel, an older song that I love. I’ve seen Slightly Stoopid six times now and had always wanted to hear Wicked Rebel live, so for me the show could not have started in a better way.

The band went on to play plenty of songs both old and new, including favorites like Sensimilla and Officer and also songs off its new album Slightly Not Stoned Enough to Eat Breakfast Yet Stoopid, like Tom & Jerry and one of my new favorites, The Fruits. The crowd loved it all; they were so pumped up they were moshing to the slow songs, although I stayed by the stage toking and basking in their rock-solid grooves. OG came out on vocals for a killer metal song, and it also played two covers: Nirvana’s Territorial Pissings and Eazy E’s High as a Motherfucker – Kyle straight tears it up on that song every time I hear them play it.

Half Pint came out for a couple songs during Stoopid’s set, which was great – not only Sly & Robbie, but here was another reggae legend at the same show! Half Pint has a great voice, and it was awesome; at one point he tried to get everyone chanting "roots, rock, reggae," but not that many people chanted along, which kind of annoyed me. At one point in the show my cousin threw a California flag we had brought with us onstage and Kyle caught it and ran across the stage waving it around, which was great. I love how Slightly Stoopid always interacts with the fans at their shows. At the end of the night The Expendables came back onstage with Slightly Stoopid to play Blood of my Blood. The two bands work great together, and the crowd loved it. All in all, I couldn’t have asked for a better show in a better venue.