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TRICK OR TREAT TO THE BEAT
Live from The Glass House Pomona
October 23rd, 2026 Review by Kevin Gomez
Everyone’s favorite ska-punk superheroes, The Aquabats, take their costume dress-ups very seriously… obviously. Therefore, it should be no surprise that October and Halloween are very near and dear to their hearts.
The Aquabats are currently on the Trick or Treat to the Beat tour, similar to last year’s excursion except expanding to several weeks, taking them through Nevada, Arizona and all up and down the California coast. October 16th the boys stopped off at The Glass House in Pomona with several friends in tow.
First up to kick off the night was the fairly new ska act, sullvn, fronted by longtime San Diego radio personality, Robert “Sully” Sullivan.
This has really been the year of sullvn, as the band has had frequent spots opening for longtime friends Goldfinger, as well as eight stops on this current Aquabats tour. sullvn’s music is classic old school reggae ska that got the entire crowd dancing on songs like “Chasing the Echoes” and “Liars.” Sully played his love letter to his home state, “Oh California.”
Sully announced they were going to do a cover and the band went into their rendition of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ “The Impression That I Get,” which saw their lead singer Dicky Barrett come out to sing lead vocals. sullvn’s horn section really shined on the cover, which should be no surprise since they consist of No Doubt’s Gabrial McNair on trombone and Stephen Bradley on trumpet. Barrett stayed on to duet on “Raise a Glass,” a song produced by Goldfinger’s John Feldmann.
Next was the barrio’s favorite hoodlums, Manic Hispanic. The boys in brown wasted no time launching into their version of Black Flag’s “Wasted!”
It was followed by “Mas Chingones,” which got the pit going, and was observed by singer Luis Perez, III, who exclaimed, “You guys started that so early!”
Perez was so impressed by the crowd’s enthusiasm he jumped into the pit for their take on The Damned, “Pinche Pinche.” Perez said the moshers were “down, brown, and ready to take it to P-Town.” Efrem Schulz took lead vocals for “Holding Cell,” before Gilbert Pichardo took over on “Teardrop on My Eye.”
Pichardo dedicated “Big Hynas” to the “the girl eating a chicken taco at Juan Pollo,” just down the street. A special moment came when McNair and Bradley played horns on “A Message to You Chunti.”
They played in my opinion one of their most genius concoctions, almost a cover within a cover – “Bob” is their rendition of NOFX’s song of the same name, however, Manic’s cover is about Bob Morales, the alcoholic drunk brother of Ritchie Valens in “La Bamba.”
The song even featured the guitar solo from the song “La Bamba,” played excellently by Elvis Cortez.
Manic then moved to their cover of “Mexican Girl” highlighted by Cortez, who absolutely shredded on the song’s iconic solo. None other than Aquabats lead singer, MC Bat Commander came out dressed like a cholo, complete with bandana, flannel shirt, baggy shorts, and knee-high socks (sock check!) while the band closed with “Paisa,” which saw Bat Commander signing on the song’s chorus.
The Aquabats were up and went right into the instrumental “Phantasma Del Bar!” as Bat Commander took the stage wearing a giant pumpkin mask.
Bat Commander said the band holds the record for most shows played at the Glass House.
Bat Commander called an audible and decided to play “Pool Party” (which was on the setlist to be the last song of the night), much like Perez earlier, he seemed to be invigorated by the audience’s energy and immediately went to the dancefloor and continued singing and skanking.
For “Pizza Day,” he welcomed two young children, a boy and a girl, who stage dove onto two giant inflatable pizza slices. The crowd put all their focus and attention into keeping these two kids afloat safe. Bat Commander came down to the barricade for the highly intense “Where is Walter Fang?”
They played “Tarantula” as a giant stuffed tarantula dangled as Bat Commander swung with a bat. “I kept swinging and missing,” he quipped, “I felt like the Dodgers.”
They played my favorite song of the night, the ultra-silly, “Spider Love” and closed their regular set with “Attacked by Snakes.”
The Aquabats returned for an encore of “Fell Asleep on My Arm” and “Shark Fighter.” The latter featured lovely horns from Reel Big Fish’s John Christianson on trumpet, original member, Catboy on trumpet, and Jimmy the Robot on sax. They ended a really fun night of fantastic music and dancing with “Super Rad.”
It was wonderful to see so many generations of the crowd, people who grew up with The Aquabats and are now bringing their children.
There’s no need to “tell your mom, tell your dad” that the Aquabats were super rad – they were there.
SHOW PHOTO GALLERY
by Todd Markel Rock Images
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SID 261026 | TRACI TURNER | EDITOR
