In the words of Gob’s Theo Goutzinakis, their Sept. 20 show at Bo Diddly’s with Sophmore Jakes was like taking a trip back to 1998 without a DeLorean.
 I arrived in the middle of their song B-Flat as a good sized and enthusiastic audience applauded and moshed a little  to the sounds of the popular pop influenced Vancouver punk band.

 They played an array of  songs from throughout their career which had most of the audience singing along. They hit most of the highlights of their career, which had most of the audience singing along. They retuned guitars in between songs, and had more of a straight ahead punk edge on their songs rather than the more pop sensibilities that made them popular. They played, short, furious bursts of energy, cracked jokes and thanked the crowd for coming out.

 The band seemed to think the a crowd should have been more into it which they did as soon as they dedicated “I Hear You Calling,” to DJ Booda, who originally had set up the show before passing away a few weeks ago.

That started a big mosh pit in front of the stage with one audience member crowd surfing. Goutzinakis grinned and mugged for the crowd and sang lead on several tracks, though he usually was in the background. Tom Tom even cracked a smile as he retuned. They even sent out one of the heavier songs  to former bassist Tyson Maiko, who has relocated to Lethbridge.

 They ended with a sizzling cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black” followed by their biggest hit “Give Up the Grudge” and “Soda,” which everyone was calling out for early in the set.
 Fort Macleod’s Sophmore jakes  played a solid opening set sounding like  Blink-182 with twice the members and a keyboard.

 They played their energetic set of pop-punk featuring  lots of guitar hooks and vocal melodies and  good natured energy throughout.

— By Richard Amery, L.A Beat Editor