2008 Woodie Awards
Three nights, one punk show
Issue date: 6/26/08 Section: Variety
Less Than Jake, Rancid and Enter the Haggis: one ska show, one punk show, one indie show - three nights of live performances from bands that have influenced my musical tastes through the years.
That was my mission, the task for me to go and experience. If you are doing a concert the right way, you are not only dancing, singing, cheering and moshing, but you are connecting with the band on a prehistoric level, like the beats of clubs on cave walls. The concert is the chance to release all the energy you feel quietly building up when you hear a song in the headphones of your iPod.
The first show on the three day long schedule was headlined by Gainesville's own Less Than Jake, with fellow ska bands Mustard Plug and Suburban Legends opening the show.
Going into the House of Blues was somewhat of shocking experience. I had seen Less Than Jake before, and have been going to ska shows since I was in high school. I know ska is one of those genres of music where no matter how old the bands themselves get, the crowd always seems to be young. Ska, with its upbeat strums and energetic live horns, is almost an example of youthfulness in music form.
The shock came when, after looking around at the crowd around me, I realized that I am junior in college; I was one of the oldest people here. The only people older than me were the parents who had to take their kids to the show. Part of me was slightly worried I would come off as the weird old guy at the ska show, but part was also comforted that those 14 and 15 year olds wearing ska T-shirts are going to keep a genre alive in future years.
The show kicked off with a local band named 69 Fingers. They played at about the quality you expect out of most local show openers. That is, they were not quite all that impressive. There is a distinct lesson to be learned by 69 Fingers, and that is that just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Just because you can change your music meter every line of the song, doesn't mean you should, because you really mess with the people skanking in the middle of the floor. Just because you can somehow fit "hardcore" vocals into a ska band, doesn't mean you should.