Reviewed by Dustin Helgeson

I can remember watching Ghoti Hook in concert four years ago at a small basement in Billings, Montana, USA. It was the most fun punk rock show I had been to for awhile. Ghoti Hook can never seem to make up their mind whether they are punk rock or rock; thus their weakness and strength. This farewell live CD has brought this fun back to me, audience chanting and all. This anthemic punk rock collection does its best to keep the energy plugged in and rolling. “Just Fools” is a fun track, with a tongue-in-cheek approach to crowd participation, featuring the audience singing the first verse of the song. Unfortunately, this is the highlight of the song, as the rest of the track suffers from lack of energy. Again, they need to decide on rock ‘n’ roll or punk rock. As soon as the band kicked it, I could imagine myself standing there, arms crossed and uninterested. Fortunately, a few tracks down the list came my personal favourite, “My Bike”, featuring a special appearance by an original member of Ghoti Hook. Again, unfortunately, the band either couldn’t remember the words, or were goofing about, and all that came out, literally, was the lyric “Blah” sung over and over again to the melody of the song. It’s all good fun live I suppose, but who wants that on a live CD? The answer is NO ONE! For fans of Ghoti Hook live, this is an excellent representation of the band as they are live, but is disappointing as any kind of “best of” collection. So, Ghoti Hook… R.I.P!

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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