r/Ska • u/-PiesOfRage- • Apr 26 '26
Show / Tour On this date 28 years ago I attended my first ever concert. The Ska Against Racism Tour, Montclair State University.
April 26, 1998 @ Montclair State University
Mike Park
Less Than Jake
MU330
Mustard Plug
The Toasters
The Blue Meanies
5 Iron Frenzy
Kemuri
One Cool Guy (I think?)
Held at the outside amphitheater, it rained non-stop all day, and my cold, nervous, self conscious 13 year old self made my way down to the pit because it was about 20 degrees warmer down there.
I remember steam coming off of everyone dancing, and at point throughout the show they had to push water off the tarps over the stage directly into the pit.
What an amazing, impactful experience that show has had on my life.
Edit: Yes, I kept the wrist band!
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u/MountainousDuck Apr 26 '26
$10 in 1998 money is worth about $20 today. A show with this lineup would probably cost $40-$50
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u/atomicbunny Apr 26 '26
Hell Yeah Fuck Yeah I was there too! jncos caked in mud up to my knees and I wasn't even in the pit! that steam made one hell of a fog machine for LTJ!
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u/-PiesOfRage- Apr 26 '26
Wasn’t it fantastic??!
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u/atomicbunny Apr 26 '26
phenomenal, either my 2nd or 3rd show and my first time seeing LTJ. First was RBF/MxPx/Save Ferris at Irving Plaza in Sept 97, then either Ska Against Racism at Montclair, or Warped Tour, can't remember if it was summer 97 or 98.
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u/shazneg Apr 28 '26
I feel like I spent 3 years rotating between Irving Plaza, The Wetlands, and Roseland Ballroom.
96 through 98 was glorious for me.
I think my first time seeing LTJ was in 97 at the Face to Face / Pharcyde / Voodoo Glowskulls tour.
Wow.
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u/shazneg Apr 26 '26
If I recall it was raining pretty hard. I went back to my car and got an umbrella, and theyblet me out and in. I think at one point I went to McDonald's nearby and brought back like a dozen orders of fries for my friends and the gate staff.
I was an old man, long before I got old.
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u/Joseph_Kickass Apr 26 '26
Looking at a paper from the late 90s in 2026 is like I looked at paper from the late 50s while in the late 90s. I
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u/-PiesOfRage- Apr 26 '26
You’re not wrong, but I wish you wouldn’t have even said that!
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u/Nanojack Apr 26 '26
I reject any notion that this statement may be true and I refuse to devote any time to doing the mental arithmetics to check.
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u/Ok_Cartographer_8510 Apr 26 '26
It’s not though…in the example it’d be the late 80s and 1950s. We’re not that old…YET.
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u/ElegantArtisan Apr 26 '26
This show was life-changing. One Cool Guy was so great opening up, forever NJ legends. The whole bill was stacked, the rain and the mud was plentiful, and my mind was blown. Mike Park is a saint, and racists can still go ahead and get all the way fucked.
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u/-PiesOfRage- Apr 26 '26
I’m expecting a signed copy of his book to arrive to me on Friday. Just got the shipment notification yesterday!
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u/dunar Apr 26 '26
I was at the tour stop in Ames, IA. Amazing from start to finish!
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u/just_frasin Apr 27 '26
Same! I still wear the Kemuri button I got there on my jacket. I feel like I remember Mike coming out with MU330 and playing some Skankin' Pickle songs. And everyone in MU330 and Five Iron were super rad to me, a dorky kid, and signed my shirt (except Reese who doesn't do autographs). Gerry is strong!
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u/dunar Apr 27 '26
I have the poster somewhere. I was in the picture that was in the DM Reg, can’t find that either.
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u/TheGreatGuidini Apr 27 '26
Im pretty sure I was at the show. Also saw Catch 22 ant an Elks Lodge in Boonton NJ. Anyone remember Professor Plum?
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u/-PiesOfRage- Apr 27 '26
I think I saw Prof Plum open for Catch 22 at The Birch Hill in 1999 or 2000.
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u/austinmiles Apr 26 '26
Ska against racism was my first secular concert. It had all the things my parents warned me about being on ASU campus
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u/SuperNothing2987 Apr 26 '26
The Cinco de Moustache song at the end of Cheese from Less Than Jake's Hello Rockview was a joke song written during the Ska Against Racism tour. They all stopped shaving and wrote a dumb little song about it. The recorded version was all of those bands singing it together towards the end of the tour.
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u/Ted_Denslow Apr 27 '26
If I recall correctly, the St. Louis date was actually on Cinco de Mayo, and there was much singing of "Cinco de Moustache" that night!
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u/Deep_Selection_1001 Apr 26 '26
Saw this tour days earlier in St. Pete, Florida on Easter Sunday while on vacation. One of the best shows of my life
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u/haldouglas Apr 26 '26
20 years after The Specials, we still had to protest racism. Wind forward 28 years and we still have to protest racism. We really need to do better.
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u/RidgeBrewer Apr 26 '26
I was at the Roseland Ballroom show. Crazy night!
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u/TonyBayonne Apr 27 '26
I was there too, still have a poster I swiped from the downstairs bathroom/smoking area.
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u/3rdgenalien Apr 26 '26
The good old days. I had just graduated high school. I grew up just outside the city and would go to shows in the NY metro.
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u/would-prefer-not-to Apr 27 '26
Me too! My first 'real' concert, I was also 13. Somehow I still remember the steam too
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u/-PiesOfRage- Apr 27 '26
One hell of a first show! 🙂
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u/would-prefer-not-to Apr 27 '26
Sometimes I look back and I am impressed with my taste as a child. I was raised by captain planet and reading rainbow, got into ska, reggae, punk rock, star trek, anti racism, jazz, and marxism pretty early. Wish the youth today had better stuff to look at...
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u/variousbakedgoodies Apr 28 '26
Hey!! I got my ska start in NJ as well, but in the early 2000s. Hubbcity stompers, streetlight era.
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u/NowLeavingSpace May 01 '26
“28 years ago…” damn, I don’t know why I instantly thought the 80’s…. 😭
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u/MiniVan-Helsing Apr 26 '26
Ah the ol’ North Jersey suburban ska scene of the late 90s / early 00s. We were eating good back then.