Less Than Jake / Suburban Legends - live in Buffalo (Cover Artwork)

Less Than Jake / Suburban Legends

live in Buffalo (2008)

live show


July 10th, 2008. That is the date that the best concert of my life so far took place in my hometown of Buffalo, NY. It's hard to describe, but from here on i'll try my best to explain the awesomness that took place.

Bomb the Music Industry! took the stage first, astonishing me with their energy. Frontman Jeff Rosenstock whipped off his guitar mid-song (due to two broken strings) and dove into the crowd, singing along with a small group of fans who knew the words. I tried my best to sing along with the 'whoa's and the "nice going asshole"s, but I wished I would have known all the words. Their show did prompt me to go out and get their albums and actually listen to the songs, so I'm prepared for the next time they return.

Big D and the Kids Table hit the stage next, announcing that they had a shortened set due to their van breaking down. This sucked, as I am a good Big D fan, but they impressed with "Souped-Up Vinyl," "Noise Complaint," "Shining On," "Steady Riot" and finishing off with "Little Bitch." Despite the short set, the crowd was really energetic and cheered for an encore for about 10 minutes before they realized Big D couldn't play anymore. The shortened time was dissapointing, but nonetheless the set was awesome.

Suburban Legends, the band my friends and I had mainly come to see, was up next. They started off with "High Fives," and many high fives were exchanged with random strangers. They proceeded to get the crowd moving and singing along with "Hey DJ," "Come Back Home," "Bright Spring Morning" and two songs off their new album, "Girls Got What I Want" and "Fire." In Suburban Legends fashion, no show would be complete without a Disney song cover. They proceeded to play "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" from "The Lion King," which was enjoyable, yet not the Disney song I had hoped for. When it seemed like they were going to end on "Bright Spring Morning," they brought out the big gun: "Under the Sea." "The Little Mermaid" cover was widely accepted, and people whom I had heard earlier complaining about how SL was 'lame' and 'gay' were dancing along in the skank pit, so it made me smile at the turnaround (or hypocrisy).

Less Than Jake was nothing short of amazing. They opened up with "Does the Lion City Still Roar?", off their newest album GNV FLA (which is fantastic, by the way; I highly recommend it), and proceeded to get the crowd going with the sing-along favorites "Look What Happened" and "The Science of Selling Yourself Short," and the speedy hits of "Johnny Quest Thinks We're Sellouts," "All My Best Friends Are Metalheads" and some more songs off their new album, "Conviction Notice" and "Summon Monsters." During an intermission when LTJ was discussing Buffalo sports teams, the crowd erupted in a "Let's Go Buffalo!" chant, prompting the LTJ crew to make a "Let's Go Buffalo" song right then and there, which very well could have garnered as many, if not more, cheers than their last song. "Scott Farcas Takes It on the Chin" was also played, and is very rare to hear live, which pleased me as it's one of my favorite songs. For their encore, they played "Plastic Cup Politics" and finished off the night with "Gainesville Rock City," complete with confetti being launched just like at the beginning of the show.

All in all, the show was nothing short of perfect. Between the non-stop skanking that every band provided, and the town pride of the Buffalonians, and the energy that both the bands and the crowd displayed, on a scale of 1-10 the concert was at least a 29. It was the kind of concert in which you pray that you can be warped back in time just to see it again and again and again.