Less Than Jake Tour Journal: part five

The Shout It Out Loud Two with Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, The Flatliners and The Real Deal continues to roll through Northern Ontario with tonight's stop in Sault Ste Marie. Of course, Punknews.org is still along for the ride and our own Ben Conoley has another tour journal featuring his own thoughts as well as video footage of Less Than Jake and The Real Deal.You can click Read More for the details.

Home sweet home, Sault Ste Marie.
Northern Ontario is almost void of people. Once you travel an hour north of Toronto, you enter what counts as Northern Ontario, which consists mostly of lakes, rocks and deer. Although it’s one of my favorite parts of the country, I wasn’t sure how the shows would be out this way. However last night’s show in Thunder Bay was a good one, and tonight’s in the Sault is sold out. I guess music fans out here are starved, much like my home town of Fredericton. The band is playing opposite of Sheryl Crowe tonight. She’s playing with Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo, who would be worth checking out on his own.
Sherylcrowenews.org
Someone asked in the comments about how the bands on tour get along. Reel Big Fish and Less Than Jake toured together in the summer of 2007, and the bands get along pretty well. Each band has their own bus and sometimes some of the guys from RBF come over to hang out. Aaron Barrett makes a mean Bloody Mary and their drummer Ryland is one hilarious dude. With the long drives between shows, there isn’t a lot of hanging out after the bands get done, as everyone has to go back to their own buses. I imagine this may be different on tours with shorter drives. The opening bands, The Flatliners and The Real Deal usually hang out on one of the buses or in the bar until leaving, and Less Than Jake is generous with amenities afforded with a bus. So while there is some hanging out, and everyone gets along, the each day is full with load in, sound check, the show and loading up. By the time work is done, there isn’t a lot of time to hang out.
Less Than Jake has three more dates in Canada before heading down the east coast of the States and over to Europe into the winter. After just four days on the road, I’m already tired. Of course, I’m new to this, and having a blast, but I couldn’t imagine touring for months at a time.
Less Than Jake’s set list has stayed pretty much the same night after night. Once in a while someone will request something before the show and they’ll swap it for one in the set. But I guess Less Than Jake doesn’t have a lot of people who travel with them from show to show, so there isn’t a need to change it up every night. As it stands, the set list is a great survey of the band’s material and features many of my favorite songs. I find it funny that I still catch myself grinning and singing along after seeing the same song performed four nights in a row. I also really dug the acoustic in-stores, something I probably won’t see the band do again anytime too soon. "Look What Happened" is one of my favorite Less Than Jake songs and it fits really well in that format.
I’d love to go or a run, but it’s a no-shower day, as most are. After the Winnipeg show, which was especially hot, I decided to wash up in the bathroom. I was washing one particularly sweaty and usually covered-up part of my body when a show attendee walked into the bathroom and greeted me with a "Dude, what the fuck!" before running out.
Less Than Jake in Thunder Bay from Ben Conoley on Vimeo. The Real Deal - Thunder Bay from Ben Conoley on Vimeo.