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Summer Circus Tour Live at RMA
August 6th, 2025 Review by Kevin Gomez
One of the biggest ska lineups to tour this year is Less Than Jake’s Summer Circus. Friday night the circus came to town at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium and had the venue bouncing non-stop through four magical bands.
SUMMER CIRCUS TOUR
Riverside Municipal Auditorium
Philadelphia’s catchiest ska band, Catbite got things going Friday night. The band just released its six-song EP, “Doom Garden” in May and opened up with the album’s lead track, “Die in Denver.”
They rocked “Not Ur Baby” and the groovy-sounding “Tired of Talk,” with great backing vocals from keyboard player Kayleigh Malloy. Catbite did another new song, “Put ‘Em Away,” and there was a thunder drum intro from Chris Pires on “Scratch Me Up.” They played the ultra-sexy, “Bad Influence” led by Brittany Luna on vocals and swaying, with Tim Hildebrand on guitar.
While Hildebrand and bassist Ben Parry ripped through “Creepin,” Luna came down to the floor and started skanking through the crowd, getting fans to start dancing and forming a pit.
It was an extremely cool and fun move that really invigorated the crowd. The band finished off an exceptionally entertaining set with “Excuse Me Miss.”
Proud Detroiters Suicide Machines came out to “Detroit City Blues,” a hip-hop song by Seven the General.
Lead singer Jason Navarro asked for a circle pit, which this crowd was more than happy to oblige into “Too Much,” and fans kept the pit moving right along into fan favorite, “S.O.S.” Navarro came down the barricade to sing with fans on “Awkward Always,” then said members of Zebrahead and Dance Hall Crashers were in the house tonight, eliciting a huge cheer.
Navarro once again came down to the barricade and let fans sing along on “Islands,” “Never Go Quietly,” and “Break the Glass,” the last featuring a sick guitar solo from Justin Malek. Suicide Machines, and particularly Navarro, did not stop moving the entire set, electrifying the crowd and having the wildest pits of the night.
They sang the first song I ever heard from them, 1996’s “No Face” and “Keep it a Crime,” a song Navarro talked about at Warped being that he wants to keep skateboarding illegal and underground. When Malek asked what being surrounded by so many at Warped gave him, Navarro replied with, “A lot of fucking anxiety,” and the band played, “High Anxiety.”
Speaking of non-stop Energizer bunnies, it’s hard to be more active than Fishbone’s Angelo Moore. Sporting a Muslim Kufi hat and full marching band outfit, Moore is either singing, playing theremin, saxophone, or a combination of the three.
They opened with “Kingpin,” following up with the heavy-bass and double-kick drum of “Drunk Skitzo.” Fishbone slowed things down for the jazzy “Gelato” before finishing with a fiery outro.
Moore’s daughter, Cheyenne Star, took over lead vocals on “Skankin’ to the Beat,” before leading to an outro of Moore and Star on dueling saxophones. They played my favorite Fishbone song, “Ma & Pa,” before performing “Ugly,” which saw Moore play three different saxes. Keyboardist Christopher Dowd has an insane way of playing keys that makes his entire stand tip forward and move over to the point where it looks like he’s on wheels.
Dowd asked how many people hated their jobs and a vast majority of people cheered, so he dedicated “Cubicle” to them. Fishbone closed out their set with the ska-punk anthem, “Party at Ground Zero.”
Less Than Jake had the stage and their banner decorated in a circus theme with ringleader welcoming “ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages.” The Florida five piece opened their set with “Gainesville Rock City,” while wacky inflatable Evo Kids (the band’s mascot) waved on either side of the stage.
LTJ played “Lie to Me” featuring bassist Roger Lima on lead vocals, rocking a light blue Cookie Monster shirt. The band kicked into fan favorite “Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts” while a toilet paper launcher gun was fired into the audience.
Guitarist and co-lead singer Chris DeMakes noticed a number of young children in the audience Friday night and commented, “I’ve been saying for years, we’re cheaper than a babysitter. Thanks for bringing your kids!”
DeMakes announced that the next song, Lima’s “The Science of Selling Yourself Short,” was played 11,263 times last month on Spotify, netting them a whopping $26. I saw Voodoo Glow Skulls guitarist Eddie Casillas watching side stage right as DeMakes said Adrian from Zebrahead and members of Rhythm Collision were here tonight. He gave a shoutout to Voodoo by doing their traditional roll call, “Who Do Voodoo We Do” and the crowd responded accordingly with a “fuck you!”
And for absolutely no reason at all, LTJ launched into a cover of the “Animaniacs” theme song. Lima said he had not seen a proper California circle pit all night and kindly asked that the crowd form one for the next song – that wasn’t hard to do as the band kicked into the high-paced, “Plastic Cup Politics.”
They played “History of a Boring Town,” and finished off their regular set with “The High Cost of Low Living” which saw trombonist Buddy Schaub dress up in a white hazmat suit with monkey mask and giant banana, and “Rest of My Life.”
The band played an encore of “Last One Out of Liberty City” which seemed to revitalize the crowd once more into another skank pit. DeMakes announced they were going to play the last song off of 1998’s “Hello Rockview,” “Help Save the Youth of America From Exploding.”
Right as the band was ready to close their set, a fan yelled out, “Anchor!” DeMakes laughed and said that in 1999, they put out a 30-second song that was featured on Fat Wreck Chords’ “Short Music for Short People.” The band obliged the fan with the request and closed their fantastic set with “Look What Happened.”
The summer is coming to an end, just as Less Than Jake’s Summer Circus is as well. A few dates remain across the US, so hopefully you can be a part of the Circus if you missed out!
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