Cherry Poppin' Daddies

Crash Mansion - June 4, 2008

Live Review by Amber Henson

From stuffwhitepeoplelike.com, Post #67: “So when white people go to concerts at smaller venues, what to do they do? They stand still!”

As we all know, there are exceptions to the rule, and here is one of them: Cherry Poppin’ Daddies concerts. Turns out if you give white people a dance floor, some swing dancers who really know what they’re doing, and enough people there who do not know how to swing dance so that no one is singled out, you can pretty much get everyone moving provided you have the right music. And even though I’d worried slightly about how the concert would go after listening to their new album Susquehanna, which has delved into something that is commonly referred to as ‘Dad Rock’, I put on a frilly dress and comfortable shoes and was happily justified in doing so.

The album starts out with a track called “Bust Out” and a mandolin. My evening started out with a swing band called The Wise Guys and an embarrassing moment involving me and fire (I may or may not have lit my drink coupon on fire, then was told the coupon was no good anyway). There was only one well-practiced couple that danced during this time, and even they weren’t snooty enough to actually dance in the middle of the rectangular dance floor. The stage looked as though it had been built for both the opening band (which contained eighteen members) and The Daddies, whom are currently at a comparatively modest eight.

Obviously Cherry Poppin’ Daddies wouldn’t have been able to survive in the ‘aughts if swing and "Zoot Suit Riot" was all of which they're capable, and the new album does a good job of showing off what else lead singer/songwriter Steve Perry and his seven buddies have up their sleeves, including punk, ska, and something like funk. It’s not as easily danceable as their more well known music, which the Daddies seemed to know, mixing the new songs in only occasionally to what seemed to be their entire catalogue.

During the concert, Mr. Perry not only sang his heart out, but danced his legs off. This, however, leads to a certain feeling of conflict. One wants to dance in a clumsy attempt at swing with their friend they brought along, but one also wants to watch Perry swing his hips around in a manner that seems like he’s trying to hypnotize the audience with his oversized wallet chain.

Overall, if you have been going to concerts lately with the feeling that you’d like to dance but you’d also like to keep a sense of dignity about you, catch The Daddies before they go back into hibernation.