Left of the Dial
Reggie and the Full Effect at the TLA

By Eli Sentman 

In terms of an entertaining live band that actually puts on a "show" rather than just a concert, you can't get much better than Reggie and the Full Effect. Their goal not only lies in playing good music, but in making you laugh as well. Reggie and the Full Effect isn't a band so much as a man, James DeWees, and whoever happens to be playing in his backing group of musicians at the time. James has created a fake storyline for the band and he can even think of hilarious packaging for an album. One of his CD's "Under the Tray" was released with the disk hidden under the actual tray of the case, which resulted in many returns by confused purchasers. It's been several years since Reggie and the Full Effect have embarked on a headlining tour. Being a band that I could proudly call myself a huge fan of, I was glad to finally see them headline once again after they opened up for several tours with bands I had no desire to see. Of course, I went to see them even when they opened for bands I didn't like, because a Reggie and the Full Effect show is too good to pass up.

The band arrived at the TLA on March 15th, and their wasn't a single dull moment. Part of this lies in the fact that they were actually all THREE of the performing bands. That may seem odd, but besides just the main band, Reggie and the Full Effect have two bands that are what you could call alter egos. The first alter ego performer was Fluxuation, a British pop star. For this act, James and another band member dressed as mimes. The show opened up with an excellent miming of R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet", which was nothing less than hilarious. After doing a few songs, the main chunk of the show started as the main band came out. They performed a variety of songs from all of their albums and did excellently. The material from their latest album, "Songs Not to Get Married To", was much weaker than everything else played, but they didn't devote too much time to those songs at all. Reggie and the Full Effect's simple but great pop songs work extremely well live and they're great to sing along to. The show was made great, not only by the music, but James' humor between songs. The band left the stage after a set of good length, but that isn't all. After the main portion of the show, the band came back out dressed as a gothic rock band from Finland called Common Denominator. They played songs with titles such as "Dwarf Invasion", while spitting fake blood on the audience, all totally in fun. Once again, James and his gang put on one of the best shows I've ever been to, and this may have been the best I've seen them at. Add that to the fact that they were the only ones performing at the show, and you've got yourself a great concert.