Never in my life had I been so apathetic about going to a show that I attended on my own accord. But that was the feeling that washed over me as I drove a few miles North to see Chase Long Beach. It had been awhile since I attended a local ska show and the scene was exactly how I remembered. Except now I'm 25. I was the creepy older guy at that show. The wristband I sported might as well have been a white van out front peddling free candy.

Regardless, I decided to enjoy myself. The first band up was a local pop-punk band called Streetlight Hero. They were like most local pop-punk bands: decent tunes, try-too-hard stage banter, Green Day sweatbands and a band name that just made me wish they were Streetlight Manifesto.

In an unexpected turn, Chase Long Beach took the stage before the local ska band. The wave of apathy I was experiencing washed away quickly as soon as I heard that first upstroke. Even though Chase Long Beach was two horn players shy of a full horn section they still managed to let the sole trumpet fill up the venue. There wasn't much stage banter--just a bunch of songs to keep the kids dancing. At one point their lead singer leaped into the crowd to skank with the rest of us. When all was said and done, the band had won me over. I was now a fan for life and will gladly travel when they play anywhere near my home state.

After the California ska band finished their set, local act Classy San Diego got ready to wrap up the show. I'd never seen the band live before but I could tell that they had already garnered a group of followers. Kids from the community college, punks sporting Casualties shirts and Mohawks sang along to a lot of their tunes. You could tell that the band is heavily influenced by Reel Big Fish as they covered "She Has a Girlfriend Now," used their "Enter Sandman" bit and lifted stage banter directly from the Reel Big Fish live album. But these acts are forgivable because this female-fronted ska band put on one heck of a show. I've got to hand it to a band for breathing new life into an Oklahoma ska scene that pretty much died in 2004.

When all was said and done I went home drenched in sweat, a new T-shirt in hand, utterly exhausted and with a smile on my face that wouldn't go away.