Less Than Jake Live Review @ Apollo (Manchester) - 17 Nov 2006

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Live Review

The crowd pushes and explodes in places like incendiary circles of human release triggered off by Dropkick Murphy’s and their 1998-released opener, “Boys on the Docks”. A soaring The Pogues and Levellers sound, with spasms of Sham 69 through the conjoined vocals led by Al Barr, means that the sweat of promoters who decided to put these strangling Boston folk/punks on the early slot, can be smelt above that of keen skankers spanning a wide demographic.

Energy, vigor and pretence shattering honesty gushes out of out each song and each member, none more so than in the boisterous bass-lines and vocal tirade of Ken Casey.His range is blunter than Al’s, suiting the old style punk offerings like ‘The Outcast’, as the outfit opens out instrumentally and the inhibition releasing showpiece is gathering momentum.

Bagpipes, thudding percussion and guitars pushed to the very limit mean that rarely will you see such broad and full on sound produced, than in this career covering set. Whenever, you are about to slot Dropkick Murphy’s into the folk/punk relics of the past, they come up with an emphatic display of their power, range and genuine nature. They certainly follow ‘The Warrior’s Code’ and while this number was dedicated to Ricky Hatton, the grizzly vocal performance of Barr means that Hatton could be dedicating a fight to these punk pugilists very soon. The fresh tilt given to the luddite lash out of ‘Workers Code’ sees the chorus change to embolden the downtrodden rant;

We're the first ones to starve, we're the first ones to die
The first ones in line for that pie-in-the-sky.

The band invites a plethora of girls onto the stage for the double whammy finale of ‘Spicy Machaggis Jig’ and the raw homage to the inebriated of ‘Kiss Me I’m Shit-faced’. This brings fun, chaos, havoc and a united spirit back to punk. Several years ago Less Than Jake set Green Day a nigh on insurmountable task of following their exuberant, spirited and musically faultless set, well guys now you know how it feels; follow this!

The seating area filled, and the chanting of LTJ… LTJ grew.It was obvious the time was nearing for everyone to catch their favorite band once more and before we knew it, on stage they bounded. And for those that doubted they could follow the previous set, they’d be right, for rather than follow it; the Florida band excelled it, with ska daubed fun, relentless tracksand punchy wit aplenty.

“Sugar In Your Gas Tank” awakened the nostalgic crowd, as the band instructed the already boisterous pit to split, and run back together to whip up a frenzy beneath the stage, resulting in plentiful crowd surfing and a frenzy to match the track’s powerful and passionately delivered punch.

“Al’s War” shifted forward a couple of years to the “Hello Rock review” era, the ska fuelled track went down a storm with old and new fans alike with it’s notable trombone player antics and surprise confetti bursts from way above the crowd, which lingered for the duration and beyond.

LTJ are renowned for their audience participation, and tonight was no exception, having already invited a fan to come up on stage and “chill,” front man Chris Demakes then invited some slightly more senior audience members on to the stage. Having read an article saying American males were the most out of shape in the world, he had clearly decided to run an experiment to get a point across in true punk style. In LTJ style, the funny humor flowed, with commentary entertaining the crowd, but perhaps not so much the two men having to get down and do push ups. The first to stop was the decider, and a mere 10 in, one gave up, which said it all.

After that interlude, it was back to the music with 2002’s energetic offering “Scott Farcus Takes It on the Chin” and the fun and frolics didn’t relent as band members bound and leapt around the stage, and the trombone player continued his plethora of get-ups and wild antics. If that wasn’t enough, two glitter cannons being fired across the crowd added to the party atmosphere.

Newest track of the evening, indicated more ska filled fun in the shape “P.S. Shock The World” from 2006 album “In With The Out Crowd” got it’s turn,introduced bluntly from the lead man: “this album sucks, our next will be better.” The song also signified the first (and only) modern emo band quip of the evening: