Images: The Ska Revival Tour July 18, 2015 at the Hard Rock Cafe on Paradise

Be Like Max, the pride and joy of the Las Vegas ska scene, is back at it again this year with the second Ska Revival Tour. Touring with the A-OKs, the boys are going all over the country, but on July 18th, they were back home in Vegas. The Dendrites and The Anchorage joined in to round out the lineup for one of, if not the, best local ska shows I’ve been to since the Artistic Armory days.

Denver’s The Dendrites started out the night with a mostly instrumental set. I hadn’t listened to them before, but before they even began playing, they made a good impression on me. After all, they’re a dapperly dressed 9-piece band, including a 4-piece horn section. I really wasn’t prepared for how incredibly talented they are. They were well practiced, but it was more than that. The musicians complimented each other so well, and their set was super jazzy (there’s a reason jazz band kids love ska). Even the most punk-looking people in the crowd were dancing around.

Being from Anchorage, Alaska, I’m partial to The Anchorage on name alone, even though the band is from Salt Lake City. But of course, there’s more to a band than its name. I’ve been a fan of The Anchorage for a few years now, and found myself wishing they would play more of their older material like my favorite song of theirs, “Many Minds.” They rewrote the lyrics to create the song “Awaken” for their new album, Regrow. They played the latter at the show, but out of habit I sang the words to “Many Minds.” The sultry, gentler Regrow was the focus of their set, but The Anchorage did finish with one of their higher-energy songs, “Dead Man’s Party.” That made them the ideal band to play between the jazzy, instrumental Dendrites and the wild, energetic A-OKs.

Like The Dendrites, the A-OKs hail from Denver, Colorado. The self-proclaimed “partycore” band released their new album, Maybe Partying Will Help, last month. I wasn’t able to make the trip to Denver to attend the album release show, but the Ska Revival Tour definitely made me feel better. The A-OKs played a perfect blend of old and new material, and the circle pit morphed into a mosh pit many times, with many people falling and just as many people there to pick them up again.

The A-OKs played their most hyped song, “Beer Bong,” off of their new album while an audience member chugged from an actual beer bong. The crowd was chanting “Beer! Bong!” along with the band, which made for a great moment.

By the time Be Like Max got on stage, the Hard Rock Café was packed full of ska punks dying to hear them—probably more than the restaurant’s capacity. Nobody seemed to mind, though, as everyone was too excited to have their favorite local band back in town. The set began fittingly with “Sin City Rude Kids,” which I highly doubt would get such an awesome reaction in any other town.

Be Like Max also played all the crowd favorites along with new songs “Party in Hell” and “Yours Truly,” which will be on the band’s new album, coming out in October. As their set was coming to a close, the crowd began to chant “Be Like Max!” spurring an encore of the ever-popular “Get Over It.”

I missed the first-ever Ska Revival Tour last year, but the Vegas date this year was kickass. As in, the show totally kicked my ass. I skanked so hard I was still feeling a little sore two days later. But no complaints here, because I got to see three of my favorite ska bands, and was introduced to The Dendrites, who I’m definitely going to be listening to in the future.

-Julien Boulton

Photos by Aaron Mattern | https://www.flickr.com/photos/akmofoto/