Doors opened around 7.30pm for the fans buzzing for a night of pop punk legends and pop punk newcomers. On the bill were Californians The Story So Far, New Jersey’s very own Man Overboard and Florida legends New Found Glory and Less Than Jake.
The Story So Far took to the stage at around ten to seven. A small cluster of fans gathered at the front, excited to see the band who have exploded worldwide in a very small period of time. As the first track of their set list kicked in; a swarm of fans joined the cluster at the front ready to witness the band play most of the songs from their successful first full length ‘Under Soil And Dirt’. The crowd incredible enthusiasm throughout and sang along until their lungs give out. The reception The Story So Far received was fantastic to see. South Wales is a not a place renowned for pop punk fans but they were certainly out in numbers tonight.
Tracks like ‘Mt Diablo’ ‘Daughters’ and ‘Quicksand’ were particular highlights and sent the crowd into an absolutely frenzy with constant crowd surfers. The band were on fantastic form with Parker Cannon’s vocals at the centre of the chaos created, his raw vocals perfect to blend in with the nature of the crowd. A fantastic start to the evening and it just shows how far this band have come in a space of a year.
Next on stage were Man Overboard who like The Story So Far were touring for the 3rd time in the UK in 2012. Their sugar coated pop punk went down fairly well with the crowd, especially the younger girls at the front of the crowd who seem to know a lot of the more soppy songs that Man Overboard play. It was a varied set list featuring songs from all of their full length releases. The crowd were fairly quiet throughout, although tracks such as ‘Fantasy Girl’ and ‘Montrose’ did go down well with the fans of Man Overboard’s album ‘Real Talk’. Man Overboard are usually criticised for their live performances, but they remained energetic and strong throughout to deliver a good live performance, they concluded the set with ‘Love Your Friends, Die Laughing’ which seems to spark some vocals from the crowd, with it being one of the more popular Man Overboard songs. A good performance in front of a quiet, uninterested crowd with the exception of a few fans.
Probably unexpectedly New Found Glory came onto the stage next, although the stage banner was a bit of a give away. This was always going to be a special set with the band playing their ‘Sticks and Stones’ album in full to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the release of the album in 2002. They may not be as popular and as youthful as they were in 2002 but they certainly still know how to put on a good live performance and please a crowd.
As expected ‘Understatement’ and ‘My Friends Over You’ were perfect for creating chaos within the venue, gigantic circle pits opened up and there was large movement in the crowd. The noise of the crowd was deafening during ‘My Friends Over You’. Slower songs like ‘Sonny’ and ‘Head on Collision’ calmed the crowd slightly, but they were still singing away showing fantastic energy. The pace soon picked up again thanks to numbers like ‘Never Give Up’ and ‘The Story So Far’ the band and the crowd had given their all to make the one off very special. After they had performed ‘Sticks and Stones’ in full, New Found Glory had 15 minutes of their set remaining to squeeze in some more songs to the delight of the crowd who were extremely sweaty and exhausted at this point. New Found Glory have enough time to pull out ‘All Downhill From Here’, ‘Dressed To Kill’, ‘Kiss Me’ and ‘Hit Or Miss’ each song was well received as the crowd sang along. ‘Hit Or Miss’ was the perfect end to a very exciting and memorable set and it was great to be a part of it.
Lastly, Less Than Jake took to the stage. It was a special night for them too who were celebrating 20 years of being a band. The crowd seemed to find new energy as Less Than Jake teared up the venue with their brilliant ska punk classics. ‘Gainesville Rock City’ and ‘All My Friends Are Metalheads’ were essential in getting the crowd going, the crowd were singing loudly with huge circle pits, crowd surfing and even the odd couple of fans dancing...
Less Than Jake are a very humorous band, and very funny moments in their set. They invited to the women security guard to crowd surf from the back of the venue to the stage. They also got three of the ‘stinkiest dudes’ in the room on stage to find out which one was the smelliest. The winner received a bottle of whiskey. After the jokes it was back to the live music, Less Than Jake ended with ‘The Ghost of Me and You’ the crowd gathered for a circle pit around the sound and lighting area.
The crowd had not had enough from the band, so they decide to chant ‘LESS THAN JAKE’ to encourage the band to do an encore. The band obliged and came back onto the stage to perform another three songs, they had been brilliantly consistent throughout and showed no sign of age after 20 years of being a band. They finished the encore with ‘Plastic cup Politics’ which encouraged the crowd to go crazy and create the perfect end to a very sweaty and enjoyable night at the Great Hall. The old legends showed the younger bands (Man Overboard and The Story So Far) that age doesn’t show on a band and both New Found Glory and Less Than Jake were vocally and instrumentally perfect throughout their sets. Very special night.
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