Save Ferris at Turf Club (May 1, 2025)

It was a dark and stormy night…well, ok, it was just a rainy evening in St. Paul. Inside the Turf Club, it was a hopping night of ska and ska adjacent music with Save Ferris in town.

The opener was Keep Flying, a band from the Northeast (various sites say they are from New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, though part way in the lead singer said, “We’re from New York”). For an opener, Keep Flying had quite the complicated on stage set up, with background banner of the band name. They also had very tall (8 foot?) posters on each side of the stage saying Time on the left and Tide on the right, supporting the name of their newest album, Time & Tide. They really felt like a headlining act. The sextet came out flying, with several members playing the hype/dance part. It’s a busy group with two guitarists (including the lead vocalist), bass, drums, and brass (with one of them playing back up and occasional lead vocals).

The second song, Delusional, is on the new album and had the classic ska punk sound. Those dual brass (trombone and sax) instruments are perfectly in line for the genre and this was super upbeat. The two brass members had a lot of double duty going on: vocals, dancing, some additional percussion. It makes for a busy visual scene, as instruments and band members are constantly in motion.

We were told that Time & Tide is the band’s first full length album after a long stretch of EP releases. Another song from the album, Death Is the End, gave us some screamed vocals amid the blare of guitars. By the time the brass interlude hit, both band and crowd

were hopping. The quick line between songs, “You may notice a pattern. We play loud and we play fast.”, was dead on and they moved right along with a song that had nearly everyone in the band jumping along together. Cycle was a nice variation on the theme, while still checking all the ska boxes. A lot of these guys are getting a workout every single show, and it’s pretty darn impressive showmanship. Peace Be the Journey was an older song that was about “not talking sh*t”.

A plug for a non-profit the band partners with called “Punk Rock Saves Lives” highlighted some of their great work, including a bone marrow donation effort. From there, the band cut back to the music with their first song, Safety Harbor, which included some theatrics and coordinated choreography. The required audience singing was in the next song Mistakes, though I was unsure of how well the crowd really got the part. A great closing speech about doing what you love led to the final two songs Surviving the Night & 198 Broadway before heading off the stage.

Save Ferris is an Orange County, California band that has been around in various lineups, always centered around lead vocalist Monique Powell, since the mid-90’s. Yes, that band name is a reference to the 80’s comedy, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, in case you were wondering. After a darkened entrance, the band opened with the high powered Anything. Powell arrived in a checkered dress and her bold red hair, creating a striking visual before she started belting out lyrics. Handshakes with a good part of the front row suggested an interactive show to come. And sure enough, we had half the band at very front encouraging the clapping in the appropriately named Turn It Up.

Another sextet, (Powell’s vocals, guitar, bass trumpet, trombone and drums), Save Ferris continued the high energy theme of the evening. What You See Is What You Get had Powell on tambourine and solid dancing from the other band members. Powell’s sultry vocal style was critical to the band’s success and she was on fire. Trumpet & trombone intro for Nobody But Me was very traditional ska. The ability of the band to navigate the relatively small stage and each other was very impressive as there was constant motion to the very edges of the stage.

Do I Even Like You? had an extended trombone solo that had the audience going nuts. There were towels at every performer’s spot for a reason, and they were in use at several strategic stage banter sections. A running gag about her microphone stand at wrong places resulted in several good jokes. After the small break, it was back into the action. And that is really the way to describe it, more a musical performance than just a rock show. A bit more of a reggae sound followed on New Sound, with Powell and the guitarist harmonizing off of each other well.

As Save Ferris worked through their set, it was interesting to see how it was designed to keep the pace up, while giving Powell some moments to save her voice for key moments. That’s not to say she and the rest of the band weren’t active the whole time, because they certainly were that. The next break had Powell talk about how much they appreciate venues like Turf Club that survived the pandemic. Holding On was a good song to follow and again, it was controlled chaos as the band were all trading places on the stage.

Get Dancing did exactly that and was another song with Powell and the guitarist trading lead vocals. The main set ended with Spam, a goofy song that also had the sing-along component. Back for the encore, there was no question what the final number would be. And after two numbers, including Too Drunk, the band ended on their hit re-make of Come On Eileen to the delight of the audience and a perfect song to cover in ska style. Keep Flyjng and Save Ferris will continue their tour, bringing that blistering pace and awesome energy to the next crowds.