October 15th, 2019

The clock turned back almost two decades Friday night at Cleveland's House of Blues as two post-millennium juggernauts took to the stage.  Texas-born Bowling For Soup played to a huge crowd, warming up the place for Florida Ska Punks Less Than Jake.

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The trifecta of bands that performed Friday started with Mesa, Arizona founded Authority Zero, in a tight, thirty-minute set, punctuated by their prodigious bass and not-too-delicate way around a tune.

Following up Authority Zero's short set was Texas-born Bowling For Soup. Frontman Jaret Reddick addressed his shocking weight gain with a joke, disarming the audience and putting any fat shaming to rest right out of the gate.  Launching into a seventy minute set, the band only played twelve tunes, but really cajoled the audience with some light interstitial banter and a bevy of dad jokes, resulting in some prodigious eye-rolling and light-hearted groans from the pit right in front of the stage.  This outfit, and their songs about late teen and early twenties angst, really lit the room up.  Encoring with their huge hit, "1985," the quartet really got the crowd ready for headliners, Florida ska band Less Than Jake.

Playing a fifteen-tune set, the ska outfit leaned heavily on their 1998 album Hello Rockview, offering six cuts from that drop. Encoring with their most popular tunes, frontman Chris Demakes led his outfit with "All My Best Friends are Metalheads," "The Rest of My Life," and "Last One Out of Liberty City."

Photos and Review by Brian M. Lumley