Less Than Jake- Castle Theatre

      On Wednesday, March 28th Less Than Jake took the stage at the Castle Theatre in Bloomington Illinois. Less Than Jake is a ska-rock band that has been around for years and has a lengthy discography. This show was a part of their Return to Rockview Tour where they played my favorite album Hello Rockview In its entirety. The show was accompanied by the Raging Nathans and Strung Out which provided amazing opening acts. 

      Although I had never heard of the opening acts before I have become absolutely hooked on their music. They knew how to bring the energy out immediately with people dancing and crowd surfing during the first set. The second act Strung Out continued the high energy with uplifting music and amazing dance moves by the lead singer. 

     From the second I saw the crew set the stage I knew Less Than Jake would be a fun show. The stage looked amazing with cartoon-like props that represented the album cover of Hello Rockview. This is something I have never seen before but was so cool because it looked like the band was playing inside their album cover. The stage was also set with big blow up inflatables that popped up and waved around the stage similar to the ones you would see outside of a car wash. Finally the lighting and fog machines added an amazing touch of effects that kept the show visually appealing. 

      I thought this tour was extremely interesting because I have never seen an artist perform one album they made performed in order. The band also features a trumpet and saxophone player which was an amazing addition to the typical rock band. At one point in the show they brought two fans on stage to perform them playing the air trumpet due to their amazing performance in the audience which was a hilarious addition to the show. The Less Than Jake fanbase was extremely engaged and was screaming along to every lyric. Another reason I loved this show was because we got an inside look at how the album was made and the stories behind the songs. I even learned one of my favorite tracks Danny Says was originally not even going to be on the album. My favorite song performed was All My Best Friends Are Metalheads which has been on repeat in my playlist. 

      Although I was already a Less Than Jake fan this show made me love them even more. I am also extremely excited to listen to more of the openers’ music because their set was extremely impressive.