CKY made their way to the vixen in McHenry, Illinois, Friday night, bringing plenty of nostalgia, heavy riffs, and a good amount of humor along with them. It wasn’t about hearing old songs when you were a teenager again. This was more of a personal experience that the crowd got to have with the members of CKY.
The night started off with the bad excuses; their sound honestly reminded me of sex Bob-Omb from the Scott Pilgrim Versus The World movie, and I mean that in the best way possible. They had great energy, constantly messing with each other and even throwing merch into the crowd, which was a pretty entertaining way to get things started and prepare everyone for CKY.
When they got on stage, everyone left the bar and went into the crowd. The band is currently performing as just two members, Chad Ginsburg on guitar and Jess Margera on drums. It’s definitely a different setup from what longtime fans might remember, but they still sounded like CKY. And the lineup didn’t seem to bother the crowd one bit; even they joked about it themselves, saying, "We're like The White Stripes.”
One thing I did not expect was just how much the band would interact with everyone throughout the night. People kept shouting song requests after Chad had asked them to, and he would play a quick riff from each song. It was very fun to see them having a kind of back-and-forth with the audience.
At one point, they actually gave the crowd three songs to choose from, and everyone was pretty set on hearing "Knee Deep." The band mentioned they haven't performed that song in a while. It was better for the fans who were asking for it.
There was plenty of joking around between songs. CKY admitted they’ve never even heard of McHenry before coming to the town, which somehow turned into a joke about McDonald’s. Margera eventually asked, "Can I get a McHenry with cheese?" It was the kind of dumb humor you would expect from the guys of CKY.
Speaking of their humor, anyone who grew up watching the original CKY videos probably remembers Brandon DiCamillo and his Chinese freestyle rap.
Well, CKY decided to bring a fan onstage to give it a shot.
Unfortunately, the guy didn’t seem to remember nearly as much of the rap as he thought he did. He managed to get some of the lyrics out before struggling through the rest. I’m not going to lie, it was pretty awkward to watch. But at the same time, seeing the band bring back something from their early CKY days (my childhood) was funny. I recorded it to send to my friends, and it was so cringe. I couldn’t do it.
The crowd was usually fun too; one lady kept bothering me to try and give Jess a beer as I was in front of the barricade. She really tried flagging him and the crew down. I don’t know if she ever gave it to him.
You could tell the people who showed up were genuinely excited to see CKY. One fan was apparently so determined to get close to Jess Margera that they managed to hide behind the barricade, but security eventually kicked them out. The band didn’t seem particularly bothered by it, but it was definitely something I wasn’t expecting to see.
Of course, the music was still the main reason everyone was there. The songs still had that familiar CKY sound, even if the lineup change was different.
What I liked best about the show was it didn’t seem too rehearsed. They were comfortable enough to joke around, entertain random fan requests, and let things get a little weird once in a while. There were a few hiccups along the way, most notably the freestyle attempt, but that’s all part of the fun.
It was a real pleasure seeing a band with this much history still enjoying themselves and having fun with the people who came out to support them.
CKY might not have the same lineup they did years ago, but Friday night’s crowd made one thing pretty obvious: people still love these songs, and they’re more than happy to get loud when they hear them. This show concluded their October tour run until they get back on the road on November 5th to play shows across Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois!
5 Songs I'd Recommend:
- Flesh into Gear
- Escape from Hellview
- Close But Far
- 96 Quite Bitter Beings
- Sink into the underground
