What's the best way to spend a Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning? Usually, taking a train full of smelly people up to Oxford then trekking through the town (full of smelly people, may I add) to the Carling Academy wouldn't be my first choice. But hey, when you've got Less Than Jake at the end of it... who cares, really?
Sweat-stained skank-crumpled remains of the ticket.There's only one word to describe Imperial Leisure's set last night and that word is
awesome. As soon as singer Denis ran through the crowd and hurtled the barrier straight onto the stage right next to me, grabbed a bottle of (cheap) champage and emptied all over the crowd, we knew it would be amazing. After the initial shock of seeing someone jump onto stage
without being tackled by security, I soon got into their music. Imperial Leisure play pure, fast ska, backed by a horn section consisting of just one lone trumpeter (who did a fantastic job)! Although barely any of us in the crowd knew their music, by the end of the set we were all fans. They played with such incredible energy, and vocalist Denis even came into the crowd to skank with us for a while! It's very satisfying to push around the vocalist of a band you really, really want to be in.
Of all three support acts, Imperial Leisure were by far my favourite. Such energy. And vocalist Denis (that name just keeps popping up doesn't it?) was really friendly: he was having great conversations with fans after the show, distributing free badges and stamping peoples' faces, and, uh... nipples. Not to mention he has the coolest hair, period.
Imperial Leisure have a new single out, Landlord's Daughter, available for (free!) download
here. They played it last night, it sounds promising. The album,
The Art Of Saying Nothing, is available to buy
here (and I highly recommend you do).
Olly's comments:
To be honest, the people weren't that smelly, and we met a super cool guy called
Ivo , who organises ska/punk gigs in Reading. But anyway, I have to say that Imperial Leisure were awesome, and I totally agree that Denis had the coolest hair ever. I think Jon's gone through them suitably, and you all should definitely check them out.
These guys were a bit of a shock to us all. At a ska gig, we were expecting ska, and after hearing Imperial Leisure, our standards had risen by about 1000%. But as Beat Union came on, we could all see that they definitely weren't ska: a sweaty guy in tight ripped jeans and a Ramones t-shirt graced the stage first. A collective groan swept throughout the crowd - but it was short-lived.
Beat Union played a great, fun set. They even managed to include a few Police songs in the middle of their own, a great surprise to me who was happily skanking, only to realise I was skanking to
Can't Stand Losing You - the height of embarrassment, eh? Just joking, I love The Police, but that's not the sort of thing you expect to dance to at a Less Than Jake gig. Anyway, Beat Union, although not quite what we had anticipated, were certainly a high quality act with great music.
PepperEveryone loved Pepper. I'm not quite sure why. In my opinion, they weren't as good as Imperial Leisure, who I thought were the best of all three supports. However, Pepper came a close second, as they played a really excellent set of both ska and punk songs. Maybe in some places they were a bit immature for the however-year-olds they are, including one instance where they asked everyone, quite politely, to shout a certain word (which I won't be stating here)... just for giggles. Come on guys, grow up.
I'm not really being too flattering. They actually gave a really solid performance and they're an already well-renowned, very popular band, and for good reason - they're awesome.
Olly's comments:
Pepper are a punky/reggae trio from Hawaii, and they're pretty damn good. By the time Pepper came on the stage, the audience were more or less ready for Less Than Jake and weren't really that interested in seeing a third support band, but these guys put on a fantastic show. They strutted on stage with not a lot on, looking like they had just got here from Hawaii. They played their music with a huge amount of energy and put on a great show. They play a kind of laid back punky reggae, with very Sublime-esque vocals. Well, now I think about it, they actually sound a fair bit like Sublime (OK, I really like them!), but not too much so they seem like they're completely ripping them off, but they were definitely influenced by them (some of their songs are a bit heavier). Anyway, they're a great band to see live, and you should almost certainly pick up a copy of one of their CDs. They also had a strange obsession with the female anatomy, but I mean, everyone has a hobby right?
So, I recommend you check them out, and if you like the stuff on
their MySpace go and buy a CD or a couple of tracks from iTtunes... yeah, go check them out.
I'm surprised Less Than Jake had any audience left after we got through all that lot. There was roughly a ten-minute break between Pepper ending and LTJ entering, in which several chants of "Less Than Jake!" took place... with no real result. Less Than Jake entered in a way which took me by surprise, but was extremely clever. The lights dimmed, and over the speakers came the familiar "This is a fair request..." speech which opens the incredibly popular All My Best Friends Are Metalheads. Obviously, as soon as the first words were completed in this speech and we realised what was going on, we went crazy, a fair few prematurely skanking before the music had even started. LTJ entered as the lights were dimmed, although it didn't really do much to hide them as I guess they'd wanted. We all spotted them and a huge roar rose up. Obviously, as the music started, I was crushed. Literally. You know how it is at ska gigs.
LTJ's setlist was brilliant, with the perfect combination between old classics and new GNV FLA tracks. They thankfully avoided those not so popular songs from
In With The Out Crowd, partly due to no one really caring for them and they'd give the horn section nothing to do. In fact, the set opened with perhaps the four most popular LTJ songs ever, one after the other, with barely any conversation in between. We could hardly believe we were being treated to Metalheads, Lion City, Johnny Quest and Look What Happened all in a row. But, we were, and it was fantastic.
Now, I love Less Than Jake, but here's the bad part. I don't think Imperial Leisure were the best choice of a support band. They showed LTJ up. They are NOT a better band, nor do they have better songs, but they're so much better live. LTJ just seemed to lack any real enthusiasm and just chigged through the songs. Obviously they were great performances, but compared to those of Imperial Leisure or Beat Union, they were lazy.
This doesn't really concern me, though. I loved every minute of it, and LTJ were great with the crowd. Famous for their circle pits, they requested that two should be formed. It wasn't exactly the best circle pit, with one side completely collapsing causing it to grind to a halt, but it was still a great laugh. There was a great atmosphere, where if someone fell over (which happened an awful lot), they would always be heaved up before someone trod on them.
Overall, a fantastic show. I love LTJ and have done since I heard Metalheads however long ago it was, and they didn't disappoint me. Massive thanks to Olly, who arranged the transport and paid for my ticket (it wasn't blind kindness, I paid for his NOFX ticket about a year ago)!
Olly's comments:
OK, let me get this straight: I'm huge Less Than Jake fan. They are my favourite band, and I'd never seen them live before, and was looking forward to this like Ronald McDonald looks at small children. They came on stage, and I knew every lyric of every song they played. I even knew the whole opening of All My Best Friends Are Metalheads (you know, "This is a fair request..."), and screamed every single lyric, and my voice still hurts. Now I have to disagree with Jon, I don't think that they were shown up by Imperial Leisure. They were very good, but I just think Less Than Jake were better. OK, so they didn't all jump about the stage through their (much larger) set, but when you think about it, most of Less Than Jake are in their mid 30s now. They've been playing for 16 years now, the're not going to have as much energy as some young new band. The thing that made them fantastic for me was just the way that they could get the crowd (including me) to react the way they did. There was a huge amount of energy, I don't remember seeing anyone not moving (more than you could say for the support bands, some people are just miserable), and they played a great set, filled with loads of their best. Plenty of new stuff as well as old stuff, and nothing from
In With The Out Crowd (thank God). Nothing from
Pezcore either (unless you count Johnny Quest, but that's known from the
Losing Streak remake), which was a tad disappointing, but to be honest they played lots of
Rockview/
Losing Streak in there, and a few of the good ones off
Anthem, so it's all good. I skanked my heart out there, and screamed every single lyric, and by Wednesday morning I could barely speak. Totally worth it. I'm not sure how it's possible not to like Less Than Jake, and if you're a fan of them, go and catch them while they're still here. If you're not a fan, go see them anyway, because the combination of them and support bands makes it totally worth the £16, and more.
You can still catch them (tickets still available) if you live near Leeds or Manchester on the last few days, but if you don't, then you'll probably have to wait till next year. It's a shame if you didn't see them. What's the best way to spend a Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning? Damn right it's seeing Less Than Jake.
LTJ setlist - we think it's in order, one or two songs may be misplaced (
bold = Jon's highlights,
underlined = Olly's highlights):
All My Best Friends Are MetalheadsDoes The Lion City Still Roar?Johnny Quest Thinks We're SelloutsLook What HappenedConviction NoticeGreat American Sharpshooter
The Ghosts Of Me And YouSummon Monsters
Automatic
The Science Of Selling Yourself ShortNervous In The AlleyHow's My Driving, Doug Hastings?
Richard Allen George... No, It's Just Cheez
Abandon Ship
Last One Out Of Liberty City-ENCORE-
Scott Farcass Takes It On The Chin
Plastic Cup Politics(By huge audience request)
Gainesville Rock CityImperial Leisure - The Landlord's Daughter (mp3, it's worth it)
Less Than Jake - Great American Sharpshooter (mp3, 1.5mb)
. I'd be happy to feature your band! Just write me a quick note saying what type of music you play, maybe a link to your website/MySpace, and include a link to a few downloadable songs if you can (submissions without samples are usually disregarded).
