A Gleeful Sea of Nostalgia | Reel Big Fish Live Review w/ Less than Jake with Authority Zero | House Of Blues Orlando | February 3 2015

by Trevor Bosmans • February 22, 2015

It is not often that I go to a show knowing that I’ll love every band on the bill, so I was stoked when I heard that Reel Big Fish and Less than Jake were co-headlining a show at House of Blues Orlando with Authority Zero starting things off.

When I first moved to Orlando in 2002, I saw Authority Zero perform an acoustic set outside the Student Union at UCF and I have been a fan ever since. I arrived at House of Blues just in time to get a decent spot for their set on the already nearly filled floor area. The band made the best of their 30 minutes, tearing right into “No Other Place,” one of their more upbeat punk songs.

Halfway through the set someone yelled out, “One More Minute!” which is one of their most mainstream songs. Singer Jason DeVore joked that requests weren’t allowed since they had such a short set, but they played it, even though the song wasn’t originally on the set list. These guys are known for their constant touring, so if you haven’t had the chance to see them yet, they usually play a headlining show at The Social every year.

By the time that Less than Jake hit the stage the place was packed and I had lost my spot on the floor, so I settled for the stairs on the left of the stage. Part of me was happy that I lost my spot because Less Than Jake was live streaming this show on the internet, so I figured it would be pretty crazy; the last time I was in a Less Than Jake pit I lost my glasses 30 seconds into the first song and had to call my wife to bring my spare pair so I could drive home.

Less than Jake opened with “Look What Happened” from the Anthem album and encouraged the audience to be as crazy as possible for the cameras. I could tell within the first few notes that they were not messing around that night. Never before have they used so many theatrics. They set off confetti cannons and toilet paper launchers to shower the crowd. They even convinced two security guards to switch their positions by crowd surfing to the opposite side of the venue which is something I never thought that I’d see happen, especially at House of Blues. (Check out the shitty video here.)

The best thing about a Less than Jake show is that they still play a great mix of old and new songs. They played songs as far back as “Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts” from their first album Pezcore, as well as the opening track from Losing Streak, “Automatic.” They even threw in a verse from their long forgotten song from the Good Burger soundtrack, “We’re All Dudes.”

Singer/Guitarist Chris DeMakes joked before playing “The Science of Selling Yourself Short,” “This song is so old it’s not even played on VH1 Classic, it’s played on VH1 Geriatric.” The entire hour and fifteen minute set was filled with surprises including a section that was dedicated to their “30 Second Songs”. They played “Anchor” from Short Music for Short People, as well as the theme song from “Pac-Man Cereal” that, according to them, General Mills paid them to write.

I didn’t think they would come back out for an encore, since it was a co-headlining show, but within a few seconds the entire band was back on the stage, They finished with “History of a Boring Town” from Hello Rockview and they threw in one last rendition of the “Pac-Man Cereal” theme song before leaving the stage for good. I could have left completely satisfied at that point but I still had a whole Reel Big Fish set to look forward to! 🙂

“The Final Countdown” by Europe played as Reel Big Fish took the stage. Singer/ Guitarist, Aaron Barrett, told the crowd that the cameras were no longer filming and that he wanted everyone to take it easy during their set. No one seemed to listen to him because as soon as the band started into their first song, “Trendy” the place erupted into a giant skanking pit.

The band continued their set playing classic after classic mixed with fan favorites from their newest album like “All I Want is More” and “Everyone Else is an Asshole.” One of the funniest moments of the evening was when they did a cover of “Garden Grove” and encouraged the crowd to join in on vocals. They said usually most crowds lose it after the, “getting dog shit on my hand,” but the Orlando crowd managed to make it all the way through.

Reel Big Fish ended their main set with their first single and one of their biggest hits, “Sell Out.” This is the song that introduced everyone to Reel Big Fish, and for some people it was their first time hearing ska music. Although we have all heard this song a million times, it’s always great to hear it live.

As they left the stage chants of “Reel Big Fish! Reel Big Fish!” filled the room. The band emerged on stage for one last time before the night was over. They started off playing a classic from their first album “S.R.”and then had some fun playing it in several different styles including hard core, country, and death metal.

They then went directly into another classic and one of my favorite songs, “Beer.” I love that they play it at pretty much every show. For their last song, Reel Big Fish had everyone singing along to their sweet cover of “Take on Me” by A-Ha. At the end of the night I was floating in a gleeful sea of nostalgia that only these three bands could produce.

Reel Big Fish Live Review & Less Than Jake Live Review by Trevor Bosmans.
Reel Big Fish Concert Photos & Less Than Jake Concert Photos by Adam Fricke.