Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, Authority Zero, Hard Rock Live!, Las Vegas -

LAS VEGAS – Ska Punk. Valentines Day. Las Vegas. This winning combination skanked and crowd surfed it’s way through Hard Rock Live above the Las Vegas Strip on Saturday night. The age range of the fully packed floor ran the full gamut, which is expected since all of the groups on the bill have more than a two decade run as a band. This has given them all the time they need to perfect their stage shows. None of the bands disappointed.

First up was Authority Zero. The crowd’s energy matched the level of intensity that was brought to the stage by led their lead vocalist, Jason DeVore. Given that this was a show on Valentines day, it made sense that AZ parted the stage mid-set to make way for marriage proposal by one of their career long fans.

Less Than Jake is one of those bands that you can tell just loves to be on stage. They know how to get the crowd pumped up with off the wall stage banter, crazy facial expressions, audience participation, and one of a kind props. Near the middle of the set the band brought out their signature toilet paper launcher to redecorate the club. According to the stack mini flyer thrown from the stage during their set, LTJ declared it “Skalentine’s day,” and proclaimed themselves “America’s Sweethearts”. They lived up to this title by pulling a random single girl and a random single guy from the crowd to the stage to make out during the middle a song. LTJ even played the Pacman cereal theme twice, in the middle of the set and again at the end of the encore.

As true masters of tongue in cheek humor, what more of an appropriate way for Reel Big Fish to take to the stage than while the over the top synth drama of “The Final Countdown” by Europe blasts through the speakers. By this point the crowd basically belonged to RBF and it showed through the way the entire room sang along during the band’s set.