Less Than Jake and Anti Flag Give A Wild Performance at Showbox Market, by Holly Homan

On Tuesday night two days before Thanks Giving, pop-ska band Less Than Jake headlined a show at The Showbox Market. LTJ are the only ska band of notoriety from Gainesville, Florida. Florida is not known for its ska by any stretch of the imagination. But Less Than Jake would be a hard act to follow, so it’s probably just as well. When they hit the stage I was immediately drawn to bass player Roger Manganelli who sports long locks roaming all the way down his back and he whipped said locks repeatedly in rapid succession. His charisma is matched by front man Chris DeMakes who totally hams it up. He makes faces at the audience seemingly making eye contact with everyone in the crowd and this agitates everyone close enough to get drawn in.

When they played History of A Boring Town I was crushed against the barricade several times. The recent passage of legalizing marijuana in Washington was brought up and led into their playing of Dope Man (the first song I ever heard by them). They claimed that they weren’t playing that song at any other show. It was just for us guys.

Ironically, the slowest song they played, The Science of Selling Yourself Short (with lead vocals sung by Roger) caused the most crowd surfers. One surfer caught me off guard and my eyes became level with my chest when my head was again used as a landing pad.

All during the show trombonist Buddy Schaub leaped about the stage when he wasn’t harmonizing the horn section with Sax player Peter “JR” Wasilewski. Drummer Vinnie Fiorello slammed the skins so ferociously I could almost see shards of wood flying off his sticks.

Chris and Roger traded off on making jabs at the audience and at one point jokingly chided a heckler, saying, “we don’t come into your break room saying you’re out of coffee filters, asshole.” That led into Liquor Store. This time I was elbowed in the back through the whole song and half way through someone stared elbowing me in the ribs. I felt like some beater car in a demolition derby.

For the finale white strips of confetti fell into the pit between the barricade and stage and Less Than Jake left the stage. They returned for an encore that included Johnny Quest before leaving for good. This is my second time seeing LTJ not counting Warped Tour and they get more fun each time.

Prior to LTJ we were treated to a great concert by Anti Flag and they came on stage totally on fire opening with We Don’t Want to Talk About It. The moshing followed instantaneously as did the crowd surfing. Bass player, Chris Barker kept yelling for a circle pit big enough to fill the entire floor and he got his wish. Lead vocalist, front man Justin Sane belted out many of their classic songs, like Turn Coat (written at the height of the Bush admin.), One Trillion Dollars, and Die for Your Government. The latter had everyone screaming along to the chorus of, You gotta die gotta die gotta die for your government. Die for your country, that’s shit! So many people were jumping up and down I could feel the floor heave in time to the music. They even played a speeded up, punked up (more so than the original) version of the Clash’s Should I Stay Or Should I Go? For the finale, Justin Sane took a flying leap off the barricade into the crowd. Meanwhile the entire drum kit was taken off the stage and onto the dance floor one piece at a time and drummer Pat Thetic slammed away in the middle of the crowd. Then it was all over.

Preceding Anti Flag was Masked Intruders. From Madison, WI, they all wore black ski masks with the exception of the bass player who wore a white one. Standing between the drummer and the rest of the band was some guy dressed like a cop trying to look menacing.

Despite their hard core, menacing look, the singer’s voice was as sweet as spun sugar. He was an amazing performer, leaning into the crowd, getting them riled up. Part way into the show, the cop made his way to the barricade where he stood and balanced on top of it before taking a flying leap into the crowd, then ran about in the circle pit. Their voices may have sounded like spun sugar, but musically they shot iron sparks. Their guitarist performed more scissor kicks than your average ballet dancer. When the cop returned to the stage he immediately ripped off his shirt and began bouncing about the stage. For the finale he returned to balance on the barricade, egging everyone to sing along before diving back into the crowd. Masked Intruder were wild!

Opening the entire night was Get Dead. Get Dead is a five-piece from San Fran featuring the very animated Sam King on vocals, Tim Mehew on bass, Moki Noodlez on guitar, Mike McGuire on guitar, and Scott Powell on drums. These guys performed with wild abandon like a sledgehammer smashing rocks. Get Dead are true punk rock and did a great job getting the night warmed up.

– Holly Homan