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Live Review: Less Than Jake – Academy, Manchester

5th March 2026
Support: The Bar Stool Preachers, The Aquabats, The Bouncing Soulds

Words: Matthew Williams
Header Photo: Tim Finch

When I mentioned to a friend that I was off to see Less Than Jake and their 2026 Winter Circus at Manchester Academy her response was “I hope you’ve got your dancing shoes ready for this!” so with my comfiest pair of Adidas trainers in situ, I headed off for a night of ska punk.

Due to a late work meeting and early set time, I sadly missed a sizeable chunk of The Bar Stool Preachers but walked in just as they were playing my favourite track of theirs, “Pick A Side”. The Brighton based sextet are in full flow, as the crowd bounce along to the songs. “Flatlined” sees lots of crowd participation, before they end with their quality two tone anthem “Bar Stool Preacher” as frontman Tom FcFaull asks the Academy to “get those knees in the air” and they duly oblige.

I knew nothing about California’s The Aquabats, but they left a lasting impression on me after their crazy, antic filled set. With MC Bat Commander at the helm, the world’s greatest superhero rock band fill their set with high energy songs that are thoroughly enjoyable to watch. Dressed in full costume, they launch 4 inflatable sharks into the crowd for opener “The Shark Fighter” and the skankfest continues on “Cat with 2 Heads” and “Super Rad”.

The trumpet is awesome throughout, but they are funny, witty, and very entertaining with more inflatables in the way of giant pizzas, as they get a young lady to sit aloft one and surf from front to back during “Pizza Day!”. The crowd are swaying and get involved in some light-hearted fun when MC Bat asks, “Is Manchester red or blue” before they play the excellent “No Rewind”. They perform killer ska music and by the time they reach the finale, “Pool Party” there are more inflatable balls as MC Bat enters the crowd to sing and dance along to what has been a brilliant set.

I’ve been a fan of The Bouncing Souls since I first heard “Say Anything” on Punk-O-Rama III, but this was the first time I’d seen them live. The quartet from New Jersey waste no time and start with “Manthem”. One thing is abundantly clear from the off, Brian Kienlen has a huge bass sound and when they play my favourite song, “Hopeless Romantic” I do go a bit crazy and dance like mad. They have lots of clap along sections, and the crowd are fully immersed in their performance, especially their excellent cover of Avoid One Thing’s “Lean on Sheena”.

“The Ballad of Johnny X” is simple, but mightily impressive and frontman Greg Attonito was excited to play a new song called “The Light”. They follow this with the football fan chanting style madness that is “Here We Go” and by the time we reach “Private Radio” there’s a more upbeat tempo that gets the crowd moving. “Kids & Heroes” is perfectly executed whilst the monstrous “True Believers” sees Attonito on the barrier shaking hands before they finish with the anthemic “Gone” to end a very professional and awesome set. Another band ticked off my “must see” list.

It had probably been some 15-20 years since I last saw Gainesville’s finest, ironically at the venue next door to tonight’s seemingly sold old Academy. With a voiceover welcoming us to Less Than Jake’s Winter Circus, Buddy Schaub’s trombone sound comes through the PA, and “Nervous in the Alley” begins. Party mode has officially been activated.

With two inflatable air dancers at the back, the crowd are jumping along to the wonderful “History of a Boring Town” as the quintet play some old songs to the audience who are according to Chris DeMakes, “packed in here like sardines”. The old dude Harry J Reynolds kicks off “Automatic” and “Lie To Me” sees a huge clap along from the crowd, with bassist Roger Lima in fine voice.

What struck me most, was that there were a lot of songs being played from when I last saw them, but they are timeless ska punk classics, so who cares! DeMakes questions “how do we follow that?” after performing “All My Best Friends are Metalheads” as it was and still is, their biggest UK hit, but it was phenomenal to hear it again. The audience are lapping it up with “Walking Pipebomb” and “Johhny Quest Thinks we’re Sellouts” next, as a white suited scary Skeletor type bunny figure joins them on stage.

“This is the only Less Than Jake song that my mom likes” says DeMakes ahead of “The Science of Selling Yourself Short” as they fire up the packed-out venue even further with a booming rendition of “Help Save the Youth of America from Exploding”. What I love most is that Schaub and saxophonist Peter Wasileski are such an integral part of the music and their joint sound is electrifying. The slowly paced “The Rest of my Life” is wonderful before we are encouraged to “bounce like it 2003” as they tear into “The Ghosts of Me and You”.

“We first came here in 1999, and we want to thank you for having us back ever since” as they perform two older songs from their Losing Streak album, “Happyman” and “9th at Pine”. We get a bit more up to date with “Sunny Side” which has more excellent brass notes, before Lima poses a very important question, “has Manchester got a Thursday night circle pit?”. Of course, the masses duly oblige during “Plastic Cup Politics” as Skeletor returns to the stage.

The encore starts off with DeMakes stood centre stage bathed in red light singing “The Brightest Bulb has Burned Out/Screws Fall Out” before the others join him and the song bursts into life. “We want to thank you for giving a shit about a band from Gainesville, Florida” says the guitarist as they end with “Look What Happened” and the utterly amazing “Gainesville Rock City” as the venue empties with tired bodies and tired feet from a stacked bill of ska punk royalty.