Okay, Ted Leo really rocked out Gabe's last night (see an earlier post for Ted Leo links). The doors opened at 6PM because it was an all ages show (Iowa City has a stupid ordinance that forces out the kiddies at 10PM), so it was sort of surreal entering the upstairs cavern of musk that is Gabe's. Hey Gabe's guys, if you read this, clean that fuckin' place up! I know there is some appeal in having a gritty club for rock music, but that place has gotten scary. Anyway, as everyone stumbled in from the bright, beautiful day, it was hard to see and hard to get the preshow energy going. A local band Codebreaker opened. They were unabashed a throw back to early 80's synthpop (think Vince Clark or OMD). Their first tune strongly echoed Joy Division, but then they went to the dance beat for the rest of the show. The singer actually hopped down from the stage and boogied on many songs. Part of me wanted to laugh at them, but they were actually pretty entertaining and had a decent sound. The next band was Chicago's Just a Fire. I had heard their CD (yeah, Matt actually bought this hunk 'o dung...sucker!) and didn’t think too much of it (neither did this dude). They seem to be from the Minute Men/Firehose school, but not anywhere near either in talent. The live version was even worse. My god did they suck. They were extremely loud too. Nothing sucks worse than this combination. The singer basically yelled the vocals in one note (a G flat and a half, I think). I'm generally not this harsh on anybody putting out a good effort, but the show was painful. They actually played a really short show, but it was like an eternity. I would rather have spent that half hour hitting my toe with a hammer. Sorry to nitpick. When Ted Leo came out, things got much better, as he started with his sort of hit "Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone," and it only got better. He played a couple of tunes solo on guitar, Billy Bragg style, and I think I liked that even more than him with the very able backing band (the Pharmacists). If you have a chance to go see Ted Leo, don’t miss it.