The Bouncing Souls, Less Than Jake, et The Lawrence Arms

I have had the opportunity of seeing the Bouncing Souls many times in concert. I have seen them play the Stone Pony in New Jersey as well as The Social a couple times in Orlando. Every time I've seen the Bouncing Souls they keep a very casual atmosphere, however I can't vouch for larger venues as I have only attended bar shows. Their lead singer, Greg, will mosey back and forth on stage throwing in an awkwardly adorable dance move intermittently. The Bouncing Souls recently replaced their long time drummer Michael with George Rebelo from Hot Water Music. I had an opportunity to see George play with them recently and while the image of not having the same gang on stage is a little different, the sound and vibe of the group carries on without a noticeable change. The set lists have a great mix of their bigger "hits" such as "Ole!" and "Hopeless Romantic" but also some old classics like "These are the Quotes from our Favorite 80's Movies". Each performance that I have attended seemed so relaxed that it felt if I were inclined to yell out a request it would have been granted. The crowds at the shows are majority late twenty to early forties. There is still an active pit and crowd but not having the younger group around is quite enjoyable.

With over 20 years together as a band, you'd have thought that experience and a more mature age would have tamed their live experience. Luckily that's not the case with Less Than Jake. The energy and enthusiasm they put into their shows puts much longer bands to shame.
They always manage to get the crowd fired up, whether it's skanking along to ska infused songs like Johnny Quest Thinks We're Sellouts or creating a huge circle pit to more punky anthems like Plastic Cup Politics.
With a huge back catalogue and a tendency to off script, you never know what will happen next. Whether it's trying to create the worlds largest human tower or getting the fattest men in the room up on stage to show off their best dancing skills, there's always something new. If you want be be entertained and like your punk with a ska twist, Less Than Jake are not to be missed.

With six full length albums under their belt, I had no idea where The Lawrence Arms were even going to start with a set list, but they did so admirably, playing from an awesome selection of tracks from over the years. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen them perform live, and although it was many years ago, I’m sure that their performance was stronger and tighter now than previously. Their punk rock music has matured and adapted with the music industry, and as they played their set chronologically, the progression really showed throughout the set.

They opened the show with the title track of A Guided Tour of Chicago, and Chris McCaughan, the lead singer, did a really great job of getting everyone in the crowd to sing along by the chorus, even though it was the first track and many people were a little subdued. As they journeyed through their timeline of tracks, when they were playing from The Greatest Story Ever told, everyone was getting really involved with the singing and dancing, as it seemed to be the most popular album of the set, so the guys took full advantage of hi, and Brendan and Niel had a sort of musical battle throughout one of the tracks. Hearing something like that unfold live is incredible, as it’s something that you can’t ever experience from a recording, so made the live shows super personal and memorable.