First band on today is Glasgow's very own, Nerve. Now I normally try to support local bands, but I find Nerve to be annoyingly egotistical and actually when you get right down to it, I just don't think that they are that good. Pop punk for the kids that don't actually like punk. Anyway they come on stage, egos fully inflated and ready to go, shouting "Are you fuckin' ready?" Then they shout their way through a couple of songs, with the usual "Let me hear you!" and "Sing along!" At which point we realise that we've not fully inspected the food stalls, skate ramp, beer van and maybe we should check those out. And luckily for us that we did, as we'd missed the 'slushies' and they were blue as well! Still being audible from our slushie slurping seats, we hear Nerve dedicate a song to "all the girls with no knickers on", very tasteful boys, considering half of the hall is filled with under 16's, the nerve of some people.
We make our way back into the hall to see [Spunge] who seem to be enjoying themselves as they work their way through some laid-back, reggae-tinged, ska songs. This reggae influence becoming more evident when they play Bob Marleys 'No Woman, No Cry'. Having some spare time on their hands they fit in extra song 'Ego'. They say that, "Glasgow rocks!" and finish by asking, "Do you guys know what a circle pit is?"
Do we? At The Barrowlands this year, Less Than Jake said that Glasgow had the best circle pit they'd ever seen.
The schedule says The Ataris are up next, but it's The Voodoo Glow Skulls who arrive on. They play 'Charlie Brown', 'Human Piñata', 'Bullet Proof' and that song, you know the one, it goes, "Ah! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!" as the singer shakes his fiery skull around. That's a skull on a stick, not actually his skull as such. And I wonder if we've all just been cursed? Possibly, as the singer does appear a little possessed during that song as he bounds around the extra space of the SECC stage, singing gleefully.
The Ataris are on next and start their set with 'I Won't Spend Another Night Alone', closely followed by the crowd pleasers 'Hey Kid"' and 'Teenage Riot'. Kris has developed a rather bad case of "Hey Glasgow!" and "This song is..." syndrome but the songs are still perfect pop punk. He even manages to substitute Glasgow into a couple of them, "I'd move to Glasgow just for you" in 'I Won't Spend....'. Maybe it's actually quite nice, but it just makes me cringe a bit. New song, 'Looking Back On Today' eases it's way in beside 'My So Called Life', 'My Hotel Year' and 'Your Boyfriend Sucks'. Then there's the customary ending of a kid from the crowd joining the band onstage for 'San Dimas High School Football Rules'. This time round it's Simon who says, "Tonight, Mathew, I'm going to be the guitarist from The Ataris".
The Vandals saunter onto the stage and have a look around, Dave sees the set list and realises what a great set they have for us tonight and chats to someone in the crowd, explaining that it's their responsibility for us all having a great time. Then, in stark contrast to their casual demeanour, they launch into 'Cafe 405', 'It's A Fact', 'Oi To The World', 'Behind The Music' and a new song that seems to go along the lines of, "Why can't you pussies understand, I am who I am". The set continues with more great, insane, punk anthems; 'My Girlfriend's Dead', 'The People That Are Going To Hell', 'I've Got An Ape Drape' and 'Summer Lovin', which sees Dave removing and then replacing Warrens cigarette from his mouth, enabling him to sing the 'girl' bit. Way too soon it's time for just one more, so Dave takes over on guitar so that Warren can treat (?) us to 'I Have A Date'. I could try to describe what happens next, but you really have to be there.
Oh, alright then. Warren jumps, runs, leaps, does the worst cartwheels I've ever seen, sings a bit, pulls the microphone cable within an inch of it's life, gets right inside his shorts (shoulders and arms included, but strangely not the bits that are meant to be in shorts!) and very effectively demonstrates the difference between the sound of "music" and the sound of "nothing". Quite how Mr Fitzgerald continues to evade being institutionalised beats me, but we're grateful anyway.
Pitchshifter are next and I believe there are a lot of people here today just to see them, so they aren't going to miss me, are they? And it certainly looks like a lot of satisfied customers who appear after their set.
The stage is being set up for Less Than Jake and we notice the arrival of two giant Pez holders with Lisa Simpson style heads, not exactly full size but at least the height of some of the kids here today. The band arrive on stage, Chris in his bad 70's wig and goggles, and proceed to play some of the catchiest pop punk, ever; 'Nervous In The Alley', 'Look What Happened', 'Al's War', 'Great American Sharp Shooter' then he finally loses the wig to reveal some nice, bleached, cropped hair. There's a lot of friendly banter, silly antics, one of the brass section sings backing vocals from the shoulders of the dancing guy in the skull mask and the Pez heads get pulled back to shoot out water, but it never detracts from the songs as it all seems very natural for Less Than Jake. We are asked to join in on 'Mr Chevy Celebrity', at least the "Have another drink, Mark Cruce" bit and after one lame practice we're told "That's great!" as they launch into the song.
They seem to finish early, but then return to the stage for an encore of 'Gainesville Rock City' and 'Johnny Quest Thinks We're Sellouts', accompanied by the release of much glittery confetti.
