Ten years, six CDs and three chords after seeping out of the swamps of Gainesville, Florida, Less Than Jake is still the first band that comes to mind when you think of third-wave ska. After a two-album stint with Capitol, the band is back where it started on an indie label, and the Pez-fixated dudes still have fun on stage and play with tons of energy. The band’s good-times vibe is difficult to match — it’s hard to listen to a Less Than Jake CD at home without getting up and dancing and singing along. Expect to see that scene duplicated many times over at this gig. Numbers will be full of skanking, moshing and dancing rude boys and girls, because from the second Less Than Jake takes the stage until the final chord stops reverberating, your feet won’t stop moving and the smile won’t leave your face.
This article appears in Apr 3-9, 2003.