So far this year, the best bands to come to St. Louis have been produced by KSLU.

For those students who went to a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game or journeyed to Humphreys for “Penny Pitchers,” don’t complain that there isn’t anything to do at Saint Louis University.

This year students have been handed two great shows: KSLU’s 50th Birthday Bash and the BossTones concert. This event was so big, even 105.7 FM The Point showed up to broadcast a short segment live.

Last Wednesday, 1,200 students witnessed the second most successful event in KSLU history, courtesy of Citizen King and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, not to mention a big help from the Black Student Association and the Student Activities Board.

Talking to past KSLU General Managers, this show has been in the works for a long time, and it was well worth the wait.

Before the show started, the spacious Scottish Rite Cathedral quickly filled with energy and early chants for the BossTones.

Before the BossTones went on stage, Citizen King was set to get the stage warmed up.

CK showed fans how much they have grown musically from their days at Reinert Pub to playing a vast venue such as the Scottish Rite Cathedral.

CK’s Matt Sims brought the energy needed to get the crowd pumped up as he wandered all over the stage rapping, yelling and shouting out lyrics to every song. The only problem was the crowd just stared, lost, waiting for the BossTones to crash the stage.

Nevertheless, CK kept the show flowing with songs off of last year’s Mobile Estates album such as “Under The Influence,” a techno rock song that was once the theme song to the WB’s “Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jill,” other songs included “Safety Pin,” “Jalopy Style,” the up-tempo sample-heavy “Smokescreen,” and “Closed For The Weekend,” which explored the bands acoustic ability. CK also played and the one song the crowd came to hear, “Better Days,” which was the bands hit single off of an outstanding album.

The highlight of the show was when CK dipped down into their bag of songs and pulled out a rarely played “Oh Ye, Oh Ye, Pitiful Man,” off of Brown Bag LP. This was a big deal since CK hasn’t played a song off of the Brown Bag LP since signing a contract with Warner Brothers records.

The crowd jumped up and down throughout “Better Days.” It would have been nice to see the crowd show the same enthusiasm for the whole show, rather for just one song they could have heard on the radio.

After an outstanding performance from Citizen King, the crowd had a short 20 minute wait for the band they all came to see.

The Mighty Mighty BossTones ran onto stage with lead-man Dickey Barrett bringing up the rear. Sporting black sunglasses and the usual ska outfits consisting of black suits, white shirts, black ties, white socks and black shoes the BossTones were ready to rock.

The ska-core style of the BossTones is unmatched. Although the BossTones style is becoming less ska-core every album, the band never fails to keep the kids skankin’ and the albums coming.

This was the BossTones second show since recording their new album Pay Attention and their first of three shows in St. Louis over the next month.

Throughout the show fans were jumping, skankin’ and dancing to numerous songs such as old tunes “Lost My Wallet,” “Where’d You Go?,” and my favorite “Someday I Suppose.”

Not only was the old stuff dusted off and played, but newer songs off Pay Attention as well as their radio hit “The Impression That I Get” off of Lets Face It.

Throughout the show, an unidentified fan at the front of the stage insisted that the BossTones play old songs, shouting out song titles to lead-singer Dickey Barrett.

Barrett replied, “The old stuff was new stuff once.” Dickey had to say that line twice, then all was back to normal.

The BossTones played their usual set of an hour and a half and made their way backstage.

They didn’t get that far as they were beckoned back on stage to play not one, but two one-song encores that left the crowd begging for more.

When fans left the Scottish Rite auditorium, they were probably expecting to be greeted by security showing them the way out, but instead fans were greeted by the band members from The Mighty Mighty BossTones to chat and autograph CDs and T-shirts purchased at the show.

If you didn’t attend the show last Wednesday, not only did you not support three great organizations, KSLU, SAB and BSA, but you missed two great fan appreciating bands, The Mighty Mighty BossTones and Citizen King.