A Good-Natured Set From Reel Big Fish

No Doubt graces rock magazine covers and punk rude boys Goldfinger have won hearts that used to belong only to Green Day. Is ska the next big thing? Reel Big Fish, a group from ska-fertile Orange County, probably hopes--and sometimes worries--that it is.

At the House of Blues on Wednesday, the band dished out ebullient, good-natured dance music with a punk flair, basking in the glow of alternative-radio’s support for its major-label debut, “Turn the Radio Off.” When singer Aaron Barrett leaped into “Sell Out,” with its lines, “The record company’s gonna give me lots of money,” lyrics obviously meant to be ironic carried the strange twist of a boast.

In a Hawaiian shirt, black-and-white checked specs and socks and baggy, post-grunge shorts, Barrett seemed, like his band’s music, an eclectic, postmodern concoction of the past three decades. With a horn section of two trumpets and two trombones, the outfit folded swing into their 2-Tone and then whipped out a frothy version of A-Ha’s ‘80s hit “Take on Me.”

With the exception of a few bras and panties tossed onstage, RBF offered innocent fun, with two young boys even jumping onto an amp riser to become the kiddie equivalent of go-go dancers. The music’s joviality--clearly a reaction against the experienced angst of grunge and rap--might confound critics looking for heft, but RBF is talented enough to keep kids dancing until the next next big thing.