Tropidelic – The Castle Theatre

By Kassidy Wiskari

Thursday, February 22nd, an unusually warm day in Illinois was the BEST day to see Tropidelic, Ballyhoo, and Palmer Squares. Their reggae rock, hip hop, and funky vibe is perfect when you’re really feeling those summer vibes. This concert was amazing! I have been to the Castle Theatre a few times before, so I knew the venue wouldn’t disappoint. The audience was energized from the very beginning and kept up that energy for the whole night. This was an older crowd, and you could tell everyone was a super fan of at least one of these bands. When we walked in the venue, we saw a huge crowd for the merch table and I wanted to shout out Tropidelic for their insanely cool merch.

The first act was The Palmer Squares, a hip hop and rap duo. They had such great chemistry with each other, you could tell they had been working together for so long that they had their shows down to a science. Their energy was also incredible. They were interactive with the audience and just so much fun. I literally had a smile on my face the entire set. My favorite song they played was Bad Animals.

Ballyhoo was the second act to play and had a super strong sound. They mentioned that this was just the start of their 2024 tour, so I’m sure their shows will just keep getting better. This group was definitely very different from the Palmer Squares, much more of a reggae mixed with pop punk vibe. Think Sublime and Blink-182 had a baby. They were incredible! I’m super into pop punk, so it was awesome to see a band who knows what they’re doing like Ballyhoo does. They started with a super high energy song, then slowed it down with some funky songs like Dark Sunglasses and ended their set with more upbeat reggae rock like Scarlet Blue and a cover of Dammit by Blink-182.

Tropidelic was the last act! Everyone was so excited, the crowd was buzzing by the time Tropidelic was setting up. This was a band made up of six guys, including two live brass players, which is not super common to see nowadays, so I was really excited. They really brought the ENERGY, especially the rapper/trombone player. I was towards the front and the air was literally vibrating during their set. They also had a “halftime show” in the middle of their set where each member came out with a different drum set and played together, which I thought was really cool. It really was a fun way to keep the audience engaged and on their toes. Since I wasn’t super familiar with this band before this show, every time they started a new song, it was a new unexpected thing. This band is really versatile and I would definitely go see them again. Also, there was a group of kids next to us and the lead singer made sure each of them got a setlist at the end of the night. So nice!

Overall, this concert was perfect for me because it combined all my favorite genres: pop punk, reggae, funk, and ska. All of the acts were high energy and everyone in the crowd was having so much fun. The Castle Theatre was also a perfect venue for this show; it’s a gorgeous theater with great acoustics and every act started in a timely manner, which is so rare to find nowadays. I will definitely be back to The Castle Theatre.