Last Calls & Liabilities Tour feat Pepper – REVIEW

The Last Calls & Liabilities Tour feat Pepper, came to the House of Blues in Chicago. With them came The Expendables and Ballyhoo! You can check out our review after the break.

The Last Calls & Liabilities Tour featuring Ballyhoo!, The Expendables, and Pepper rolled into Chicago on Sunday, September 11, and they didn’t leave town without rocking the faces off The House of Blues Chicago.

Maryland natives Ballyhoo! opened the show with a bang, just as the exclamation mark after their name would suggest.  They were a solid choice to take on tour because they obviously fit right in with the reggae/rock genre that Pepper and The Expendables bring to the table.  The crowed loved it, and they kept their hands in the air for the whole set.  I hadn’t heard a whole lot of Ballyhoo! before the show, but one of the few songs that I was happy to recognize was “Cali Girl,” which definitely made me happy to hear live.

I was disappointed at the opening number from The Expendables.  They opened with their song “Tight Squeeze,” which I had high hopes to hear, but it mostly sounded awkward as if the band hadn’t practiced it in a while.  After what seemed to me like a weak opening, the band got it together and started jamming out some of their best songs.  The guys perpetuated their love for marijuana and alcohol with songs like “Ganja Smuggling,” “Come Get High,” “One Drop,” and my absolute favorite, “Bowl For Two.”  The Expendables had a set that included a mixture of both calm crowd favorites, as well as faster rock/reggae tunes.  I was disappointed when I missed these guys at Warped Tour, but I’m happy I got to enjoy their amazing set at the House of Blues.

Pepper is an entity of its own within the genres of reggae, rock, and ska.  Pepper is a band that not only brings some of the highest energy I’ve ever seen from a band, but also an original sound that constantly has their crowds going nuts.  Unlike with The Expendables, I didn’t miss Pepper at Warped Tour this year, but I have to say I loved their set a whole lot more on this tour.  Despite the band seeming to have had more energy at their Warped show, this tour brought a solid selection of music to the table as well as a different level of intimacy with the smaller venue.  In tow with the usual Pepper form, the band played some of their provocative crowd favorites like “Point and Shoot,” and “Give It Up.”  They also played some of their usual show material that made their set fantastic.  Tunes like “Freeze,” “Blackout,” “Stormtrooper,” and “Ho’s” had the majority of the crowd with their hands in the air and a joint between their lips.  It should be noted that the presence of The Expendables brought out quite a bit of pot smoking in the crowd, but when Pepper took the stage, the invisible forest of skunks raged on through the night.

I enjoyed this show so much that I can’t wait for any of these bands to come back to town.  I definitely plan on picking up Ballyhoo!’s new CD and shuffling it into my daily mix of reggae/rock that certainly already contains a major amount of Pepper and The Expendables.

Information about the review…
Tour:  Last Calls & Liabilities Tour feat Pepper
Reviewer:  Mike Nutting
Bands:  Pepper, The Expendables, Ballyhoo!
Date:  September 11, 2011
Venue:  House of Blues in Chicago, IL