LIVE REVIEW: Less Than Jake, Bouncing Souls, The Aquabats, Bar Stool Preachers, O2 Academy Bristol, 27/02/2026
Photo Credit: Andy Davies
By 6pm, Bristol’s largest indoor live venue was already packed for the UK’s own Bar Stool Preachers, which was a wonderful sight. The show had been sold out for weeks, and the band were welcomed like heroes before they had even played a note. Musically, the band effortlessly fuse pop punk and ska with a loud, brash British edge. Plenty of bands drift into sounding like US copycats when they take on this style, but The Bar Stool Preachers lean firmly into who they are. It is sharp, confident and completely unapologetic.
TJ McFaull is the kind of frontman most bands would kill for. He owns the stage. No fuss, no awkward pauses, just straight into it and driving things forward at full tilt. Within minutes the pit was moving and the front rows were bouncing. He barely stopped to breathe, let alone stand still. The Preachers have clearly put the work in to reach this level. The crowd was a real mix of young and old punks and there were certainly plenty in the room seeing the band for the first time. Judging by the reaction, they will not be the last. Closing with the Rancid-esque Bar Stool Preacher sent the place into chaos. Bodies flying, voices shouting every word back at the stage. The Bar Stool Preachers are flying the flag high for British punk. Despite being around for just over a decade, it feels like they are only just getting started. The only way is up.
Following the flawless Preachers set came California’s strangest export, The Aquabats. They bounced onto the stage, somehow filling it with what felt like an endless number of members, and dazzled the Bristol crowd with their zany, comedy-filled punk rock. Everyone seemed to love it. Everyone except us, it seems. Maybe we are getting old. Maybe our sense of humour is broken. Or maybe we just wanted Bar Stool Preachers to play longer.
That said, it was hard not to smile when they picked a young girl out of the crowd holding a sign saying it was her first ever show. There was only one way to welcome her to punk-rock. Hoist her onto an inflatable slice of pizza and pass her around the venue. For that moment alone, we stayed until the end. Fair play to the band for doing what they do for over thirty years, but surely there comes a point where they must be thinking the joke is wearing a little thin.
Next up were New Jersey’s Bouncing Souls, with hundreds of fans already huddled together in the pit greeting them like old friends. There is a real hardcore following around this band. Their back catalogue stretches back to 1989 and has earned them a place among the most respected punk bands on the planet.
A muddy sound at the start of the set did not put a dampener on anyone’s spirits as the faithful crowd sang back every word to Souls classics such as Kate Is Great and Lean on Sheena. There are no onstage gimmicks, no flashiness, just pure emotional punk rock that the band have honed over the years. There is a lighter side to them, heard on tracks like Here We Go, but the band really shine with the slower, more emotive anthems, shown beautifully in songs such as The Something Special and Anchors Aweigh. Bristol got a seventeen song set spanning the band’s long history, wrapping things up with the perfect triple closer of Hopeless Romantic, True Believers and Gone. The last of those sent the faithful crowd into an absolute frenzy. Perfect.
Less Than Jake stormed the stage and the room lit up instantly. No messing about, no pause — straight into Nervous in the Alley and History of a Boring Town, and the crowd was moving from the first beat.
They tore through their catalogue, blending old favourites with newer tracks that fit right in. High Cost of Low Living from Silver Linings landed like it had always been part of the set, while the classics — All My Friends Are Metalheads, Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts, Walking Pipebomb — had the whole room shouting along.
Even the recent stuff went down brilliantly. Sunny Side Up from the Uncharted EP reminded everyone these guys still know how to write a proper ska-punk belter. Between songs, DeMakes and Lima bounced off each other, cracking jokes and keeping it light without ever slowing the momentum. The energy on stage matched the pit perfectly, relentless and electric.
The closing stretch was pure singalong chaos. The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out, Look What Happened, Gainesville Rock City — the room was a blur of movement and voices everywhere. Tight, loud, loving every second, Less Than Jake reminded everyone exactly why they have stayed on top of this game for decades.
Words and Photos: Andy Davies
