Popular ska band Less Than Jake played a sold out show at the Gothic Theater Friday night, continuing their nationwide tour.
In support of their new CD, In with the Out Crowd, Less Than Jake stopped in Denver and played for their first time at the Gothic. The band was joined by rock bands The Damones, Rock and Roll Solders and A Wilhelm Scream.
Typically the first band playing at a concert is not very good, but the complete opposite occurred on Friday night. The Damones, with a female lead singer, seemed to do an excellent job entertaining the crowd with a mixture of hard rock and catchy love songs. The crowd seemed disappointed when they finished after half an hour.
After the Damones, Rock and Roll Solders came out. Although their music was high energy, the lead singer’s tendency to croon into the mic and knock things over became repetitive and unnecessary.
A Will Helm Scream took the stage to the Olympic-themed song only to burst into their trademark style of hardcore-thrash-punk following the Damones.
After half an hour of waiting in anticipation, the lights dimmed and the crowd roared. A sound clip of Godzilla attacking a city blared over the speakers as a banner dropped showing Godzilla fighting a Masked Fighter.
Immediately after the banner dropped, Less Than Jake took the stage. The guitar rapidly shredded through the intro of the first song, “Short Fuse Burning.” The crowd seemed to love it, and the entire floor erupted into a large pit. Less Than Jake played for roughly an hour and 45 minutes covering such favorites as “History of a Boring Town,” “The Ghost of You and Me,” “All My Best Friends Are Metalheads,” and “She’s Gonna Break Soon.” All the while they used leaf blowers to distribute rolls of toilet paper all over the theater.
The band took a small break to fetch five shots of Jagermeister – one for each member – and to tell several mildly offensive jokes. It seemed they could tell the crowd was growing restless so they kicked back in with a melody of five of their most beloved songs before they closed out their set.
When the band left the stage after performing “Gainsville Rock City” and showering the audience with confetti, disappoint struck the crowd. Less Than Jake promptly returned to play “Plastic Cup Politics” followed by “Look What Happened.” During “Look What Happened,” the band deployed two snow makers on the crowd. It was an impressive finale, and the crowd seemed to love every second of it.
Less Than Jake rarely tours the United States anymore due to its international success, but the next time they do, attendance is recommended at all costs.
