Less Than Jake Turn O2 Academy Brixton into a Ska-Punk Circus of Sweat, Surf and Singalongs
- Alan Bryce
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
O2 Academy Brixton - 1st March 2026
WORDS / IMAGES ALAN BRYCE
Less Than Jake returned to the UK in February and March with their UK Winter Circus 2026 tour, a seven date run that brought the band back across the country with a stacked supporting cast in tow. On 1 March, the Circus arrived in London, for a show that felt as much like a communal celebration as a headline performance.
Even before the first chord rang out, the night carried a distinct sense of occasion — not only because of the strength of the bill, but because it marked a notable return to Brixton for the band following the venue’s reopening. Entry procedures were noticeably different from past visits, with queues routed around the far side of the building and guided through multiple, clearly staffed security checkpoints. The changes were widely understood as part of the venue’s post 2022 safety overhaul and stood in clear contrast to the band’s last appearance here in 2019.
Once inside, it was immediately clear the evening was already gathering momentum. The sloped floor filled early, aided by a 17:30 doors time and a tightly run, festival style schedule that encouraged full commitment from the outset. The crowd brought an unmistakable all day event mentality: barrier spots were claimed early, the floor packed out quickly, and the atmosphere leaned joyfully communal. Costumes, constant movement, and shared anticipation set the tone long before the headliners appeared.
With a bill stacked with genre favourites, each support act brought something distinct to the night, contributing to a steady escalation of energy.
Opening proceedings at the early start time of 6:15pm, Bar Stool Preachers walked onto a stage with a venue floor that was already impressively full — the kind of early turnout that signals a crowd invested in the entire bill, not just the headliner. Working within a tight 30 minute slot, the band avoided the temptation to overload the set with new material, instead leaning into established favourites to ignite the room quickly. Tracks such as “Choose My Friends,” “Trickledown,” and “Flatlined” landed with immediate impact, while a snarling cover of Cock Sparrer’s “Suicide Girls” and the early staple “One Fool Down” added extra bite. Closing with “Bar Stool Preacher,” the band achieved exactly what a strong opener should — with enthusiasm in the crowd matching the energy on stage and setting the tone for the night ahead.
SETLIST
Choose My Friends
Trickledown
One Fool Down
Suicide Girls (Cock Sparrer - cover)
Pick a Side
Flatlined
Bar Stool Preacher
By 7:10pm, the evening had already taken on a playful visual identity — a detail that made instant sense when The Aquabats! bounded onto the stage dressed in coordinated, superhero style outfits mirroring many of their fans in the crowd. Their set leaned unapologetically into theatrical fun. It began with inflatable sharks launched into the room during “The Shark Fighter!”, transforming the airspace into something shared — no longer reserved solely for crowd surfers, but filled with absurdist props floating overhead. The MC Bat Commander didn’t confine himself to the stage either, moving along the barrier for high fives and collapsing the distance between band and audience. As the set progressed, the spectacle escalated: inflatable pizza slices appeared for “Pizza Day!”, while giant beachballs were batted back and forth in a running game between stage and crowd. Whatever your metric for musical precision, the takeaway was simple — The Aquabats! made the room fun, and on a four band marathon bill, that kind of joy is a genuine superpower.
SET LIST
The Shark Fighter!
Cat With 2 Heads!
Martian Girl!
Super Show Theme Song!
Pizza Day!
Red Sweater!
No Rewind!
Dr. Space Mummy!
Fashion Zombies!
Super Rad!
Pool Party!
By 8:00pm, when The Bouncing Souls took the stage, they were met by a crowd already primed for big choruses — and the response was immediate. Loud roars greeted their arrival, with a sizable portion of the audience clearly thrilled to see them on the bill. What followed was a breathless 50 minute set that barely paused for air, with singer Greg Attonito commanding the room from the outset. The impact came from both performance intensity and crowd connection. Songs such as “Manthem,” “Sing Along Forever,” “That Something Special,” “Late Bloomer,” and “Kids and Heroes” landed hard, while their cover of Avoid One Thing’s “Lean on Sheena” triggered a full scale mass sing along. Late in the set, the band debuted a new track — its title lost in the moment, but its reception unmistakable, hitting with the same force as their back catalogue favourites. The closing run of “Kids and Heroes,” “True Believers,” and “Gone” pushed the room into full voice participation once more, and it was widely noted that crowd surfing spiked sharply during this set, acting as a major accelerant in the night’s escalating energy.
SET LIST
Manthem
Sing Along Forever
Hopeless Romantic
Kate is Great
Lean on Sheena (Avoid One Thing – cover)
The Something Special
The Ballad of Johnny X
The Light
Here We Go
The Gold Song
Late Bloomer
That Song
Unknown (New Song – Possibly ‘All is One’)
Private Radio
Kids and Heroes
True Believers
Gone
By the time Less Than Jake finally took the stage at 9:15pm, the room was already fully warmed and in constant motion. The front section, in particular, had evolved into a self selected dance zone — a crowd primed for pits, sing alongs, and unrelenting movement — leaving security busy throughout the set managing a near continuous stream of crowd surfers spilling over the barrier.
The Brixton setlist unfolded as a brisk, fan rewarding sprint through classic Less Than Jake territory: sharp, propulsive guitars, punchy horn lines, and choruses built to be shouted back in unison. Opening with “Nervous in the Alley” and “History of a Boring Town,” the band set a pace that left no room for the crowd to ease in. From there, the run of “Automatic,” “Lie to Me,” and “Last One Out of Liberty City” kept the floor in constant motion, with pressure building at the barrier as surges from behind pushed bodies relentlessly forward.
The middle of the set delivered a run of pure crowd pleasers — “All My Best Friends Are Metalheads,” “Walking Pipebomb,” “Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts,” and “The Science of Selling Yourself Short.” On a bill like this, these songs didn’t function as nostalgia so much as instruction manuals. You could feel it in the way the crowd surged, the front rail becoming a brace point, and security settling into a relentless rhythm of lifts and catches as bodies continuously came over the barrier.
There was also a clear nod to the present. The inclusion of “Sunny Side” sat comfortably alongside the classics — less a breather than a recalibration before the final surge. As the main set drew to a close, “The Ghosts of Me and You” and “Plastic Cup Politics” carried the room right to the brink, ending the set with the kind of sustained momentum that made the encore feel inevitable rather than procedural.
The encore itself was structured as a perfect release valve. It opened with the emotive pairing of “The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out / Screws Fall Out,” before bursting back into full celebration with “Look What Happened” and the closing “Gainesville Rock City.” The arc was unmistakable: a moment of shared feeling, followed by a final push into full throttle chaos, capped by thunderous applause.
What truly set the Brixton date apart was how completely the audience embraced the tour’s “circus” spirit long before the headliners appeared. Costumes weren’t a novelty — they were integral to the atmosphere, a visual signal that this would not be a crowd standing politely between songs. As the night built through the support acts, crowd surfing multiplied steadily, and by the time Less Than Jake were deep into their set, security were in near constant motion, handling the sheer volume of bodies coming over the barrier.
Crucially, the energy never tipped into hostility. This was ska punk chaos in its purest form: relentless movement, huge sing alongs, grins pushed through exhaustion, and an unspoken understanding of how to look out for one another while still going hard. Even the inevitable mishaps were met with good humour — including one moment where a security guard was briefly toppled by the weight of a larger crowd surfer, quickly laughed off once it was clear no one was hurt.
SET LIST
Nervous in the Alley
History of a Boring Town
Automatic
Lie To ME
Last one out of Liberty City
All MyBest Friends Are Metalheads
Walking Pipebomb
Johnn Quest thinks we’re sellouts
The Science of Selling Yourself Short
Help Save the Youth of America From Exploding
Happy Man
9th at Pine
Sunny Side
The Rest of My Life
The Ghosts of Me and You
Plastic Cup Politics
ENCORE
The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out/Screws Fall Out
Look What Happened
Gainesville Rock City
FOLLOW LESS THAN JAKE
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