Less Than Jake and Bowling For Soup Came Back For The Attack Tour at Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas on August 6th, 2022
LAS VEGAS, NV - On Saturday night, the Back For The Attack Tour came to The Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas which is a co-headlined tour between pop-punk poster kids Bowling For Soup and Floridian ska-punk pioneers Less Than Jake.
The bands had been flip-flopping the closer spot each night on the tour, and Vegas was graced with Less Than Jake taking the last slot on the bill.
I say that because their live show is absolutely insane, and it is a bit tough to follow, to be honest. Of course, that said, there were probably a decent amount of fans that left (from what I could tell) after Bowling For Soup played.
If I had my guess, it’s those damn Phineas and Ferb kids all grown up who just wanted to hear one song and then bounce.
They definitely missed out on an awesome show from LTJ, but that was not the only highlight of the night.
The opening act Doll Skin, from Phoenix, is a bit more on the hardcore punk side (and even covered a Fugazi song) which I am not really sure if fans who listen to LTJ and BFS really knew what to do as hardcore moshing isn’t really in that demographic per se.
Nonetheless, the band did a really good job to get the crowd pumped up, especially with the song “Eat Shit” which had lead singer Sydney Dolezal a bit emotional when talking about the hatred that the world spits at each other in explaining the meaning behind the song.
Up next was the supporting act Cliffdiver from Oklahoma, and I had already loved this band before this show. AFTER this show, it proved to me that they are absolutely one badass band with a ton of heart and in music for the right reasons.
Vocalist Joey Duffy talked about how at age 24 he had a gun in his mouth, and joining Cliffdiver at 30 and opening for Less Than Jake and Bowling For Soup shows just how much a person’s life can change in a few short years. “It gets better,” he quipped after explaining his depression.
They blasted off with some of the most fun songs in their catalog like “New Vegas Bomb,” “Frank Muniz Don’t Smoke No Mids” and closing with their song “Gas City” which refers to “gassing up your homies” - which is a slang term to describe supporting your friends.
Hilariously, they also played BOTH of their songs about IKEA - “Lost in IKEA” and “IKEA Strikes Back.”
One song I don’t recall them playing was one of their new singles “Who Let The Hawgz Out?” which is a great song. Unless I just totally spaced it out, it was not on their set.
Either way, they absolutely killed their set and after their set Duffy actually spent time at the merch table talking with and introducing himself to every fan that came to check out their merch. The whole band was incredibly gracious as well.
Next up on the night was Bowling For Soup. I hadn’t really tracked these guys for much of the past 15 or so years, but a couple of years ago I seemed to start noticing them more and more (maybe due to the pandemic and being bored?) again, and I hadn’t realized that they have always been a pretty popular band over the years.
Of course, now I know why they are incredibly popular. They are fun loving, honest and can rock the hell out of a show.
They busted out all their hits like “1985,” the aforementioned Phineas and Ferb theme song “Today Is Gonna Be A Great Day,” “Girl All The Bad Guys Want” and their new single “I Wanna Be Brad Pitt.”
Their set is a bit of a rollercoaster as they do a lot of practiced routines (known as “features”) where they crack jokes or tell stories. It almost felt as if it was 50% music and 50% non-music, but when they played music, it was pretty on point, and the crowd was going pretty wild.
I could see how as a closing act with a smaller band, that would be a bit easier to deliver as well, but when you have Less Than Jake coming on before you, it would be a bit odd. So, I was happy that LTJ was closing out the night in Vegas.
Speaking of Less Than Jake, they came on and played a ton of their hit songs like “History of a Boring Town,” “Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts,” with “The Ghosts of Me and You,” finishing their pre-encore set, and “All My Best Friends Are Metalheads” was their final song of the night.
These guys literally have a party on stage by bringing out toilet paper shooters, giant branded balloons with their name on them, and a mascot who wears a skeleton masks and dresses up as a boxer to be a hype person during a couple of their songs.
LTJ also is one of the few bands at their level and age (the band itself is almost 30 years old now), that routinely has fans create a circle pit and mosh almost the entire set. Most bands as they get older, so do their fans, and thus, the pits go away.
The energy was electric the whole night, and as a bit of a break from the action, they even did a same-sex wedding for their tour bus driver and his now husband as a special occasion that only Vegas can truly boast.
Another really cool part of the night was when Bri from Cliffdiver joined LTJ on stage to sing a song, and the crowd went nuts. It's always pretty awesome to see bands play together on stage.
I have a feeling the crowd size may have been slightly affected by the fact that there were 60,000 rock fans watching Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Strokes at the exact same time (and I had to split duties up and forego my ticket to that event as well).
For the money though, I don’t think you will have much more fun than a punk concert with 500-1000 like-minded individuals.