Secret Show at Eddie C's Pub 6-13-02
Jul 07 '02
The Bottom Line When LTJ plays a hometown show, the crowd is usually too obnoxious to bother with. But these secret shows are an awesome treat for the old school fan.
A few weeks ago, I was subject to a rare treat. Less Than Jake played a “secret show” in their hometown of Gainesville, FL. These shows usually happen about three times a year, right before LTJ embarks on a larger tour. I can’t stand a typical Less Than Jake hometown show. They usually play on a stage that is way too high, with far too many security goons who don’t do a damn thing about all the @sshole jocks and idiotic crowd surfers. The whole atmosphere of the show sucks, and the set usually ends early. These are the shows that thrive off of their reputation as a college-rock party band. Secret shows, on the other hand, are an entirely different matter.
Everyone knows about a regular LTJ shows a month or two in advance. Any idiot who has no idea what punk is hears about it. But for a secret show, there is NO advertising, and the venue is usually a small bar the frat boys have never even heard of. Admission is only $5, just like Fugazi (a third of what it is for a typical LTJ show), and the only way people know about it is word of mouth, which usually starts only a day or two before the event. The crowd is composed of mostly old school fans, people who actually participate in the scene, rather than just go push people around when a big band comes to town.
I found out around lunchtime the day of the show. A little asking around, and I found the venue, and door time. I rounded up a few friends, and we got there around nine o’clock. There was still plenty of room in the club. Since in most aspects, this was a typical local Gainesville show, I knew to not expect the first band until a little before 11:00. So my friends and I hung out in the bar area, eventually moving closer to the stage. It was great to be able to just hang out and relax and not have to fight the crowds and lines way before the band started. We spotted a few members of LTJ just hanging out in the crowd. A very relaxed vibe.
The first band, Billy Reese Peters (that’s the name of the band, it’s not just one guy), was a typical Gainesville drunk punk band. Imagine old Hot Water Music, but more drunken, a lot angrier, and far less skilled. I’ve seen a lot of bands like this, and even though this band was awful, they were better than probably 75% of bands that try that sort of thing.
Short lesson in Gainesville drunk punk:
Good Bands: Hot Water Music, Gunmoll, Against Me!, Small Brown Bike, Leatherface (SMB and Leatherface aren’t from Gville, but they sound like it).
Cheap knock-offs: Grain, Billy Reese Peters, Army Of Ponch, Grabass Charlestons, tons more.
Luckily, they played a short set.
After a quick change out, Less Than Jake started sound checking. The best part of the show was that I was standing about two feet from Roger, LTJ’s bassist, for the whole time they played. Since the stage was only about 6 inches high, he was right at eye level with me, and it’s actually kind of creepy having some guy with nasty dreads and huge lips, slapping around a bass, staring you in the eye while you’re singing along with their songs. Creepy, but cool. He even stuck the mic in my face during the chant of “HEY!” in “Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts” (the recorded version doesn’t have the chant). I haven’t seen them play “Johnny” in years. It really was a night for the old school fans. Still no “Jen Doesn’t Like Me Anymore” though, and nothing from before the “Losing Streak” album.
The last time I saw LTJ in Gainesville, I lost my shirt to an unruly and aggressive crowd. This time, there was hardly a crowd surfer, and despite plenty of good natured pushing from the weight of the crowd, I never even lost my footing at the edge of the stage. The only annoying part was a group of giggly girls next to me, but even they couldn’t dampen the energy of the night.
They hit a lot of favorites, and also played some new songs too, and even played a cover of the Partridge Family’s “I Think I Love You”. The sound quality in the club kinda sucked, but it didn’t matter, since everyone knew all the words to the songs (except the new ones). I actually believe them when they said that was the first time they had ever played some of those songs live. Interestingly (and sadly) the new songs had absolutely NO ska. One new song was sorta slow, and one was REALLY fast, and about half had horns. The names of the new songs, as abbreviated on the set list I grabbed, were “Upwards,” “Ghosts,” “Asaok,” and “Last Rites.”
All in all, this was much more like an old school Less Than Jake show than the monstrosity that their big venue appearances have become. Sure, the only free stuff they tossed out were some Fat Wreck Chords comps, but just the general vibe, the level of interaction with the crowd, and most importantly, the crowd itself. I’m old now(for a punk rocker), and getting jaded. I’ll probably never go to another regular LTJ show. But these rare secret shows make me feel like I did when I was 15.
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PezKing
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