By the time the Circus Down Under tour rolled into Auckland for its final night, it had already hit the coast of Australia, survived a week of long-haul travel and gathered the momentum that a package tour of seasoned muso’s can generate. What arrived at Studio was effectively a living snap-shot of American ska-punk, presented through three distinct interpretations of a genre that has proved far more durable than anyone might have predicted during the 1990s.
The evening began with Detroit’s The Suicide Machines, who delivered the harder set of the night. While many bands use ska rhythms as a source of lightness, The Suicide Machines treat them as a source of fuel to fan the flames. Starting fast with Too Much and SOS they soon had full club involved and by song three, Awkward Always, the first circle pit had formed. Jay Navarro is a compelling front man and songs such as No Face, Break The Glass, High Anxiety and New Girl arrived with intensity, igniting the first scenes of mass dancing of the evening and immediately raising the temperature inside the packed venue.
Their performance served as a reminder that for some ska-punk was a chance to merge the speed of punk with the danceability of the off-beat. Emerging from Detroit’s tougher punk traditions, The Suicide Machines demonstrated how the genre could carry the aggression and urgency of hardcore while retaining the rhythmic bounce that makes ska so distinctive. It was a focused and energetic opening set
If the Suicide Machines represented the genre’s edge, The Aquabats! upped both the horns and the fun. Dressed in their trademark superhero uniforms, the Californian troupe transformed Studio into something resembling a Sid & Marty Krofft Saturday morning TV show brought to life.
With any Aquabats performance the theatricality and inflatable props enhance the music. Tonight the staged antics, massive audience participation and comic-book theatrics complemented a set packed with fan favourites like Pool Party! Pizza Day! and Fashion Zombies! which had the fans fully committed to the vibe. While 2024s No Rewind! proved they still have the spark. The highly anticipated closers, The Shark Fighter and Super Rad!, generated huge crowd responses with The MC Bat Commander (singer Christian Richards Jacobs ) all but finishing the night deep in the crowd.
The band’s infectious wackiness proved impossible to resist and the crowd was mellow, happy and participatory. A spirit of inclusiveness has always sat at the heart of ska culture and all were welcome, long-time fans and curious newcomers all found reasons to smile and dance, making The Aquabats the evening’s most exuberant performers. They expressed a desire to follow this, their first trip to NZ, with a swift follow up in the new year. No doubt it would be well received, they provide more fun than a barrel of monkeys!
The loudest reaction of the night was reserved for Less Than Jake and once they hit the stage the audience surged to the front and remained jumping, bumping, hand waving and singing from start to finish of the eighteen-song set.
Formed in Gainesville, Florida in 1992, Less Than Jake remains one of the defining bands of third-wave ska-punk, and their headline set demonstrated exactly why. They immediately tapped into a deep reservoir of fan support built over more than three decades of relentless touring and consistently infectious songwriting, last here two years ago they made all the right noises about being keen to come back and do a local garage tour.
From the opening blasts of the horn section, the band sounded remarkably sharp given they had only landed in NZ a few hours earlier. The combination of trombone, saxophone and tightly wound pop-punk guitar lines created the familiar sound that helped define albums such as Losing Streak and Hello Rockview. More importantly, those songs have lost none of their ability to ignite a crowd.
Early on All My Best Friends Are Metalheads became one of those concert moments where the audience effectively takes over lead vocals. The Science Of Selling Yourself Short and History Of A Boring Town, triggered mass singalongs, everywhere you looked there were bouncing bodies and smiles of recognition. Mixed in were newer songs like Sunny Side and new 2026 release Scatter The Ashes delivered with the same verve as the oldies Sugar in Your Tank and Never Going Back to New Jersey. Finishing the main set with the excellent (and personal favourite) Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts.
By the time the encore including Look What Happened and the homage to their origins Gainsville Rock City closed out the night, Less Than Jake had showed an ability to balance humour, self-awareness and genuine connection. Beneath the upbeat tempos and brass-driven exuberance sit songs about friendship, growing older and finding your place in the world. For this audience those themes resonated as strongly as ever.
More broadly, Circus Down Under succeeded because it showcased ska-punk’s remarkably diverse family tree and distinctly regional America evolution. The Suicide Machines represented Detroit’s hardcore-informed intensity, The Aquabats celebrated Southern California’s mania and party minded eccentricity, and Less Than Jake demonstrated why melodic Florida ska-punk became the possibly Ska’s 3rd wave’s most accessible and enduring form. Three bands. Three approaches. One packed Auckland crowd still eager to jump, sing and celebrate a musical movement.
For those in attendance, it was a night that proved ska-punk’s heart continues to beat loudly. As the final notes rang out Studio felt less like the last stop on a run of shows and more like a celebration of a scene that might morph but won’t disappear. Expect to see more in the near future.
Review by John Hastings; all photos by Mitchell Miller
Less Than Jake
The Aquabats!
The Suicide Machines
