Less Than Jake, Snuff, Allat Water Street Music Hall October 24, 1998, Rochester, NY
Less Than Jake has been one of my favorite bands since my introduction to Soundcheck in 1996. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to see them at the Warped Tour here in 1997. Unfortunately, that's the only time they've ever played here. So when it came up that they were playing in Rochester again (60-odd miles away), my friend Patty agreed to drive out. To make things even cooler, thanks to Vinnie (drummer/lyricist), we were guest-listed.
Finally getting there (kinda got lost, then had to park 4 blocks away), the doorman looked skepitcal of my ID (common reaction), told me to smile, then gave me my 21+ wristband (counting me & Patty, I guess there were about 10 there). The ticket guy was very cool, checking us off and telling us to have a great time or enjoy the show or something.
All this while, Snuff was onstage playing. They sounded really good, played the couple songs I know, and were looking good too. Apparantly we'd missed Braid, the first openers. Taking a spot down front to the right, ALL came on. Blah. They played about 2 Descendents songs ("I Wanna Be A Bear" and "Everything Sucks"), and even those weren't sounding that great. A real disappointment. So we wandered around while they were on, over to the merchandise, which cool ltj boy Sean (roadie, merch, and all around great guy) was handling. Sigh. ;)
So we went back up front to wait for less than jake. Chatted with this kid from Syracuse for a bit, and oogled the guy behind us (was he ever cute - really reminded me of kevin). The lights dimmed and flashed and there was this creepy skeleton-masked guy on stage; really expected some guy to run
through the crowd stabbing people at this point (okay, so I just watched Halloween the night before & it was in my mind!). Then the band started and the crowd went wild. Into the second song, Patty retreats to the back of the crowd. I was holding on to this pole for some stability, and so was oogle-boy. Midway through the set, I decided I'd just relax and
pretend I was with him, which he either didn't notice or didn't care.
The set itself hinted that they might as well have called it the Losing Streak tour, as that's where the majority of the songs came from. Off the top of my head what I can remember:
So ... it was a good show. I liked LTJ when I saw 'em at the Warped Tour last year better, but oh well. Hopefully they'll make it out to Buffalo some time. But check 'em out if you get the chance!
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