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This was the first show I'd actually been to at Cat's Cradle in a little over a year. In fact, I think the last one I'd seen there was Less Than Jake on their last Spring tour. Unfortunately, I got sick halfway through their set the last time, so I was fortunate enough to catch them again this year at the same venue.

Of course, LTJ once again brought along their weird mix of opening acts (courtesy of drummer Vinnie's taste in music for his Fueled By Ramen record label and also Drive-Thru Records bands). I walked in to catch the last half of FBR's Days Away, who I assume entertained the handful of people that were already down in front of the stage. From what I caught, the band writes slow, melodic, and at times ambient soft rock. I didn't catch the names of any of their songs, so my apologies for having no set list for this band.

Drive-Thru Records' Hidden In Plain View took the stage next and played their brand of emo for the few fans they had in the crowd, in the process winning over some new followers as I saw several kids bobbing their heads and screaming in a pleasantly surprised manner of delight. As for me at the moment, I tried to hold a place towards the front of the crowd for when Less Than Jake came on, but decided on just standing on the small deck over to the side of the venue where I could actually watch the guys in perfect view, not too far away from the stage, and not be insanely uncomfortable and crushed by the packed crowd. Front row is highly overrated if you can't even enjoy the band you came to see. Anyways, walking away from the front during Hidden In Plain View didn't put a damper on my night, seeing as they definitely weren't my cup o' tea, but reguardless, I could see that at least half the crowd thoroughly enjoyed their thirty-minute set.

After HIPV walked off, fifteen minutes passed before Chicago-based Allister, who are also on DTR, jumped on stage and made a slight change of pace for those in the crowd yearning for fast, up-beat, pop-punk. I didn't mind their set much at all and caught myself tapping my feet to their songs, but was definitelygrowing impatient waiting for the band I'd come to see. Allister played about 45 minutes and seemed to play both new and old for their fans. The only songs I remember were the ones the band introduced: "None of My Friends Are Punk," "Somewhere On Fullerton," and "D2."

Allister concluded their set and after thirty minutes Gainesville's fabulous five came on stage, energy gleaming from each of their faces wearing these drunken shit-eating grins, gave a shout to the crowd, and went right into "How's My Driving Doug Hastings?" I thought the band starting with a Losing Streak song couldn't be topped, but sure enough right after the opener the band shot straight to "My Very Own Flag," which was fucking awesome, because the handful of times I've seen the guys play, they've never done any Pezcore songs. They continued to rock the sold out crowd, not missing a beat, chord, or "honk" as far as I could tell. I was very happy to see the band having as much energy as always and even happier to see them play such a great variety of songs and not sticking to any certain "hits" (leaving out "Dopeman" and "All My Best Friends Are Metalheads" for instance). Highlights of the night included the two new songs they played (both incorporating the horn section), Chris and Roger talking shit about Sire Records not wanting them to write "ska songs," and in particular, their performance on the songs "Brightest Bulb/Screws Fall Out" and "Al's War." After around 20 songs, the band closed down the venue with an encore of "Gainesville Rock City" (of course) and "Science Of Selling Yourself Short."

Besides the openers that I wasn't too fond of, the night was fantastic and Less Than Jake managed to blow me away yet again.

Set List (from oldest to newest):

  • My Very Own Flag
  • Automatic
  • Sugar In Your Gas Tank
  • Johnny Quest Thinks We're Sellouts
  • How's My Driving Doug Hastings?
  • Just Like Frank
  • Lockdown
  • Last One Out Of Liberty City
  • Nervous In The Alley
  • History Of A Boring Town
  • Al's War
  • Gainesville Rock City
  • Welcome To The New South
  • Ghost Of You And Me
  • Look What Happened
  • Science Of Selling Yourself Short
  • Escape From The A-Bomb House
  • The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out/Screws Fall Out
  • Bridge And Tunnel Authority
  • National Anthem
  • New Song
  • New Song




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    Posted by prankish on 2005-04-14 15:23:00

    *Even though

    Posted by prankish on 2005-04-14 15:22:36
    My Score:

    Even a lot of their material is hit or miss, when it hits it's pretty fucking great music.

    Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, April 14, 2005 at 12:48 PM (EDT)

    Johnny Quest and Very Own Flag were written around the same time.

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 at 11:04 PM (EDT)

    yea, 107 is def a cool song

    Posted by Chason on 2005-04-13 22:37:14

    i've never heard them play Short Fuse Burning, that would be cool. I think I'm the only person at the shows that screams for them to play "107"

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 at 8:10 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    they also played about the same set in atlanta, except i think they played Short Fuse Burning instead of Welcome To The New South. amazing show.

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 at 4:48 PM (EDT)

    "the free show at UCF was the shit)."

    I was at that show and I'm from MA. Just happened to be down there, and yes, that was an excellent show.

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 at 3:22 PM (EDT)

    Johnny Quest is actually older than everything but my very own flag.

    Posted by notfeelingcreative on 2005-04-13 14:20:44

    School For Heroes were good guys, never could get into their music, though.

    Posted by TJmoney on 2005-04-13 11:56:15

    yeah it was in april 2002 for some spring fling they had on a saturday "squirrels gone wild." the rest of the bands were local bands like game over, don king lives in my backyard and school for heroes, then a comedian was up there with an acoustic guitar making fun of sugar ray and the friends theme song

    Posted by notfeelingcreative on 2005-04-13 09:52:44

    "the free show at UCF was the shit)."

    I went to UCF for three semesters, before transferring to Rollins, the only band I ever saw on Campus was when Authority Zero played outside the student union, the same day they played with Guttermouth/Nerf Herder.

    Posted by sprainedsoul on 2005-04-13 09:45:22

    LTJ always rocks it. They played "Mike Sinkovich" at the Rehasher/LTJ relase party at Market Street Pub in G'ville last year, btw.

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 at 3:45 AM (EDT)

    You mean they didn't play She's Gonna Break Soon?

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 at 1:07 AM (EDT)

    "It seems as if they have forever removed 'Where the hell is Mike Sinkovich' from their sets, thogh"

    Actually on their headling tour in 03, they had Mike Sinkovich on their set list. Also, last year at a headling show in vegas someone in the crowd yelled it and they played it.

    Posted by TJmoney on 2005-04-12 23:42:42

    I was just talking about less than jake at work tonight and saying how they always change up their set lists and they never play all the same songs every show...the only song I've seen them play each of the 8 shows I've seen them has gotta be last one out of liberty city. One of the best live acts out there hands down (the free show at UCF was the shit)....I like Allister too they have good catchy songs and theyre Cubs Fans!

    Posted by notfeelingcreative on 2005-04-12 22:28:11

    That's cool' I've heard them play it a dozen times, but the last three or four times I saw them, it was ommitted, I don't think they've played it here in Orlando since around '98 or '99 but I could be wrong because I missed them when they came with ALL and when they played unannounced at Barbarella, some time ago.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 at 10:08 PM (EDT)

    "It seems as if they have forever removed 'Where the hell is Mike Sinkovich' from their sets, thogh!"

    They played it when I saw them last August in Lincoln, NE. They were joking about how it was almost too old for them to play.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 at 9:39 PM (EDT)

    i saw them in jersey and kane hodder was there, that shit was messed up. the singer looks like he came from devo but wears really tight clothes and is fat and acts really homo. everyone hated them

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 at 7:52 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    they played the exact same set list in NYC. word.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 at 4:03 PM (EDT)

    This band is fucking lame and Allister's even worse. Mad Caddies rule.

    -Chinatown

    Posted by CorpseOfMyMotivation on 2005-04-12 15:40:11

    It's been three years since I last saw this band (my first show ever at age 13), but I remember them being energetic as hell.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 at 1:41 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    my perfect ltj setlist:

    mixology of tom collins, mike sinkovich, is this thing on?, motto, greased lightnin, one last cigarette, the reflex, ask the magic 8 ball, soundcheck, krazy glue, plastic cup politics, richard....cheeze, losing streak, faction, 3 quarts drunk, national anthem, asaok, short fuse burning, dopeman, my very own flag, screws fall out

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 at 12:13 PM (EDT)

    "so the labels pay them to take out there shitty bands so that they get attention"

    yeah... just look at all that attention. let's see... this band played and i didn't care, then i walked around and found my spot when that band played and then allister played 3 songs i've heard and a bunch of other stuff while i waited for less than jake

    Posted by Chason on 2005-04-12 11:29:48

    to the person a couple posts down, i'm don't know exactly who picked the supporting acts, but i can only imagine it was Vinnie considering it is the FBR/Drive Thru tour.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 at 10:56 AM (EDT)

    i hope i get as solid of a setlist for the cleveland show

    and i'm glad they've figured out the only songs anyone wants to hear off of borders and boundaries are 'look what happened' and 'gainsvillle rock'

    a few new tunes will be cool too!

    paul

    Posted by CorpseOfMyMotivation on 2005-04-12 10:56:31

    Wow. That's actually a pretty cool set from LTJ. I figured they'd have stopped playing their ska stuff.

    Posted by notfeelingcreative on 2005-04-12 10:29:11

    "Al's War rules"

    Yeah, "Al's War" and "Scott Farcas..." are the only two tracks I really like off "Hello Rockview".

    Posted by notfeelingcreative on 2005-04-12 10:27:16

    Wow, decent LTJ set, "My Very Own Flag" is probably my favorite LTJ song! It seems as if they have forever removed "Where the hell is Mike Sinkovich" from their sets, thogh! Also, i'll take "Al's War" over "All my best friends are metalheads" anyday.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 at 9:38 AM (EDT)

    in the review it says vinnie picked the support acts.

    so no - the major label didn't pay less than jake to take the support acts with them.

    Posted by punkindrublic696 on 2005-04-12 07:02:00

    yea. ive got no idea how tours work but my hunch is, big labels know that less than jake draw big crouds, so the labels pay them to take out there shitty bands so that they get attention

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 at 5:02 AM (EDT)

    Do you think Less Than Jake gets paid to tour with all these shit bands?

    Posted by Chason on 2005-04-12 02:04:18

    i agree with jones...but i did get a lot out of this show and i am objective enough to recognize whether or not the band i'm seeing puts on a good performance on a certain night. but yeah, the only reason this got 4 stars was the opening acts. i think all show reviews are a little biased. i probably should have just given it 5 stars though.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 at 1:48 AM (EDT)

    I love Less Than Jake! They always keep a healthy mix of old and new shit every time I see them. I can't wait to catch them again this sunday in wisconsin. It's going to be once again, another classic LTJ event regardless of the openers.

    Posted by stevejonestherealbones on 2005-04-12 01:34:38

    pretty much, show reviews always get good scores since the reviewers usually are stoked about going and like the bands....i dont get much from them

    - jones the bones

    - stevejones8770@yahoo.com

    Posted by NoUse on 2005-04-12 01:19:26

    Al's War rules

    Posted by ubershep on 2005-04-12 00:51:26

    ew

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 at 12:48 AM (EDT)

    that setlist looks similar to the one i saw in d.c. GREAT show. lots of old songs, and the new ska songs sounded great. i think they're making a comeback.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 at 12:36 AM (EDT)

    Allister is a surprisingly good live band... maybe even the best live pop-punk band performing today.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 at 12:16 AM (EDT)

    LTJ = BADASS....First