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Review: Less Than Jake, Prospect – ‘Let’s never turn our backs on ska’
“Ska defines me as a person, and I will never turn my back on ska”.
Possibility the most relatable words from Jake Peralta across eight series of Brooklyn 99.
Walking into a chilly Prospect Building in February, it’s absolutely a mantra for a surprisingly large number of people. It’s sold out tonight. Yep, that’s right, 3,000 ska-punk fans have paid upwards of £40 a ticket to party like its 1996.
Walking into the main room and straight into the Aquabats! mosh-pit, it all suddenly makes perfect sense. Of course, at the end of a bleak winter, the perfect antidote to constant bad-news stories is a night of the sunniest possible music.
Not a hint of politics here guys, but there are seven superheroes (aka middle-aged men) on stage wearing tight blue lycra and board shorts, sporting handlebar moustaches and playing their hearts out.
And the crowd eats it up – tearing into their biggest hit Super Rad!, blazing horns sail across the mosh-pit. Totally insane high-octane silly-ska is the only possible description for Aquabats, a Californian septet who used to count Travis Barker as one of their members.
For their final song Pool Party! the band are joined on stage by a dancer in full head-to-toe yeti costume who skanks across the stage throwing inflatable balls into the crowd.
When they finish I bump into a group of uber-fans in full Aquabats costume, clutching an inflatable shark; they are absolutely chuffed when I ask to take their picture, and still totally giddy from seeing these Californian weirdos return triumphantly to Bristol after 20 years.
The crowd was up for a night of skanking, mosh-pits and silly escapism
Next up, in a total vibe shift, are the Bouncing Souls from New Jersey. In an otherwise ska heavy lineup these guys play a more nuanced, shall we say, brand of old-school British-inspired punk.
11 quality albums over the course of 30 years, and having maintained the same core lineup during this time, the result tonight is an assured, genuine and honed performance.
This is singalong-inclusive punk at its finest. 3,000 people roar along to hits Accessory to the Crime, and Lean on Sheena.
Frontman Greg Attonito, looking dapper in suit and flatcap has an understated charisma that simply grabs you. It never feels try-hard and its particularly endearing to hear him saying after 30 years of playing shows: “Here’s a new one – we’re gonna give it a shot”.
It’s this no-ego attitude that sums up Bouncing Souls, four mates playing an hour of good old fashioned three-minute punk tunes with catchy choruses.
After a swift stage turnaround, a curtain drops at the back of stage to reveal an enormous LESS THAN JAKE backdrop, and matching circus style stage-props.
Less Than Jake jog on stage to toilet roll guns spraying paper over the first three rows, pyrotechnics firing and even a death clown skanking away.
A huge cheer greets them and they launch headlong into three back-to-back fan favourites Nervous in the Alley, History of a Boring Town and Automatic.
It’s a wild ska-punk party at a packed out Prospect
After such a full-throttle start to the set, frontman Chris pauses and declaims: “A lot of you are over 35 right – I know its going to hurt tomorrow morning. Let’s all take a deeeeep breath in”.
He’s right, a lot of people here definitely remember Losing Streak coming out 30 years ago but there’s also a healthy number of people here who might even be at their first ever gig. Such is the intergenerational appeal of just having a good fucking time.
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To anyone who hasn’t seen a gig from a golden-era US ska-punk band, at least 20 per cent of the show is witty stage banter.
Strong examples from tonight include “I started wearing white shirts in 2026, let’s hear it for me”, and “I can see you yawning buddy. It’s ok – you’ve probably got four kids and been working all day”.
It’s honestly just refreshing to see a band have fun on stage – there’s no requirement to be cool in ska-punk. It creates a sort of wild energy in the air, with a non-stop mosh pit from when LTJ walk on to the end of their encore.
At one point towards the end a guy runs past me holding one of his shoes aloft, with a smile plastered across his face, not a care in the world, and I think: yes Peralta, let’s never turn our backs on ska.
All images: Simon Alexander
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