Venue: Jannus Live
City: St. Petersburg, FL
Date: February 24, 2026
Review and Photographs by: James Zambon (https://jameszambon.com)
There are few bands that can turn a Tuesday night into something that feels like 1995 summer break, and the Descendents are absolutely one of them. But before the legends took the stage, Montreal’s own NOBRO lit the stage up with their entertaining and chaotic energy. Starting off the night, NOBRO made it clear they weren’t there to politely warm up the crowd. They were there to kick the doors open. Their set was loud, swaggering, and unhinged. Solid riffs, sneering vocals, and an enthusiastic, energetic stage presence that the crowd resonated with. Jannus crowds can sometimes take a minute to warm up, especially early in the night. Not this time. By the end of their set, the circle pit was in full motion, and the tone for the evening had been decisively set.
Frank Turner, came on next and shifted the energy into a punk-rock in a pub kind of intimacy. Launching into “I Still Believe,” Turner immediately turned Jannus Live into a singalong, except louder, sweatier, and with better lighting. Backed by a tight band, he balanced his defiance and vulnerability across a sprawling set that ranged from the politically charged “1933” to crowd staples like “Recovery” and “Four Simple Words.” Mid-set, Turner switched it up into a solo acoustic stretch, with “A Wave Across a Bay,” “Be More Kind,” and “The Ballad of Me and My Friends”, and managed to quiet the normally restless courtyard into focused attention. It’s not easy to command that kind of silence in an outdoor venue on a weeknight, but Turner’s strength has always been sincerity without self-importance.
And then the sprint began. When the Descendents hit the stage, it was less a performance and more a sustained blast of melodic hardcore joy. From the opening punch of “Everything Sux” straight into “Hope” and “I Don’t Want to Grow Up,” the band wasted zero time. Early in the set, Milo Aukerman climbed down from Jannus’ stage and accepted a pink rabbit hat from the crowd, and unmistakably Louise Belcher-core, and he wore it intermittently throughout the night. It was ridiculous. It was perfect. It was very Milo, very Descendents. The setlist was a full-throttle survey of everything in their catalog that I wanted to hear: “Myage,” “Clean Sheets,” “’Merican,” “Suburban Home,” “Bikeage,” and “Smile” all hitting firmly. “Weinerschnitzel” was over almost before it began, as tradition demands. When they played my personal favorite, “Silly Girl” it left me smiling for the rest of the evening. Their encore dug even deeper, with a tour-debut performance of “Jean is Dead” before closing punches from “Kabuki Girl,” and their always-blistering “Get the Time.”
It wasn’t just nostalgia, I mean yeah, obviously nostalgia, but their vitality that really made it awesome for me. The Descendents aren’t coasting on legacy, they’re still fast, still sharp, still self-aware enough to wear a pink rabbit hat while ripping through songs about suburban anxiety and aging without grace. On a Tuesday night in St. Petersburg, three very different bands delivered three distinct flavors of energy: chaotic, earnest, and ferocious. Jannus Live felt like the center of the punk universe for a few earnest hours. Can we do this again? It went by too quickly.
DESCENDENTS SETLIST: Everything Sux – Hope – I Don’t Want to Grow Up – I Like Food – Nothing With You – Rotting Out – Myage – Victim of Me – Clean Sheets – My Dad Sucks – ’Merican – Without Love – No Fat Burger – When I Get Old – Nightage – Weinerschnitzel – No, All! – Silly Girl – Van – I’m Not a Punk – Good Good Things – Coffee Mug – Coolidge – I Wanna Be a Bear – On Paper – I’m the One – Suburban Home – Thank You – Bikeage – Smile – Jean is Dead – Grudge – Kabuki Girl – Get the Time
FRANK TURNER SETLIST: I Still Believe – Try This at Home – Never Mind the Back Problems – Photosynthesis – Girl From the Record Shop – 1933 – No Thank You for the Music – A Wave Across a Bay – Be More Kind – The Ballad of Me and My Friends – I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous – One Foot Before the Other – Do One – Recovery – Out of Breath – Letters – Non Serviam – Get Better – Four Simple Words
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Category: Live Reviews, Photo Galleries