Sing it Loud @ Webster Underground (05/01/2009)

Taking the stage in a nearly sold out underground, Sing it Loud played the Webster Underground this past Friday (May 1, 2009)—a night which was shared with Nightwish on the main stage. Sing it Loud brought with them their unique brand of Synth-Pop-Punk-Rock and gave their everything into their performance, capping out a night including The Morning Light, Friday Night Boys, Artist vs. Poet, The Summer Set and Thrash Unreal.

For those lucky enough to be off the side of the Underground stage prior to Sing it Loud taking the stage by storm, you would have seen two things. The first was Pat Brown (lead vocals and guitar) playing along to New Found Glory’s ‘My Friends Over You.’ Even if you were in the audience you may have heard this one as his guitar was live at that moment. Secondly you would have witnessed Sing it Loud’s team chant—which is essentially the Mighty Ducks team chant—an interesting element to a fascinating band.

Taking the stage, Sing it Loud opened with ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’, the first track off their new CD. With more energy than a toddler in a candy store, Sing it Loud bounced around the small stage. Despite the stage’s size limitations, Nate Flynn (bass) was able to pull off a full arial spin without taking out any of his band mates. Playing other songs off their new CD, Sing it Loud also included ‘Maybe I’m a Ghost’ one of the songs from their first EP. The crowd went wild for most if not all the songs. And when requested to ‘jump so high the floor caves in,’ followed without a moment’s hesitancy (and let’s just say the audience did a pretty good job). Finally, Sing it Loud closed their set at the Underground with ‘Come Around’, the title track from their new CD for which the crowd screamed harder than any other song.

From the Underground, Sing it Loud plays Bamboozle in New Jersey this weekend (May 2-3, 2009) and then joins the Warped Tour for the rest of the summer.

The Webster Star found Ben Peterson (keyboard and synthesizer) after the show and he gave us his best approximation of their set list:

I've Got a Feeling, We're Not Afraid, Don't Save Me, Best Beating Heart, Maybe I'm a Ghost, Over You, Come Around

Pop Punks Not Dead

New Found Glory rock the house, assisted by Bayside, Fireworks and Set Your Goals

As I read on one attendees shirt during the night, ‘pop punks not dead.’ And after this Wednesday night (04/29/2009) at the Webster Theatre, I can concur with that statement.

With a casual disregard for the last two days of the work week, New Found Glory stormed into town to play the Webster Theatre, supported by three fellow Pop Punk bands Bayside, Fireworks and Set Your Goals on April 29th. What followed was an incredible performance that I will remember for some time to come. Admittedly, I have only been a casual New Found Glory since the days of the major pop singles from 2004 (‘My Friends Over You’, ‘Failures Not Flattering’, and ‘All Downhill from Here’) but I can sincerely say I’ll be following this band a lot closer now after this performance.

The night started with Fireworks who, even for an opener, had the crowd singing along to their songs and generally built the energy through their set. Set Your Goals followed, taking the stage with their two lead vocalists, building the energy further. Finally Bayside arrived to close off the openers half of the show. Bayside, eagerly awaited by the audience was received like free candy, with a core majority of the audience singing, chanting and otherwise joining along.

Of course New Found Glory was not to be outdone and, without much time between the end of Bayside, captured the stage and the audience. Launching straight into their first song, ‘Listen to Your Friends,’ New Found glory was full of liveliness, bouncing around the stage and engaging the crowd who had gathered to see them. After their first song they quickly swung into second gear with ‘Coming Home.’ Interspersed in some of the crowd favorites and unique songs (like ‘Tip of the Iceberg’ which was only released as an EP) were two of the songs I was dying for, ‘All Down Hill From Here’ and ‘Failures Not Flattering’.

Sidetrack: The only thing more disturbing than Ian Grushka (bass player) wiping the sweat off his naked plump upper half, was the supposed addiction the band has to Miley Cyrus. This stemming from a set of banter in which Chad Gilbert (lead guitar) announced he now has a twitter and is addicted. And in doing so tweeted this picture. Talking about twitter, there were rumors that New Found Glory might play one of the 5 Green Day songs they sound checked with. But no luck on that one.

Finishing up their main set, they played their ‘fake last song’ as they proclaimed it and marched off stage before their encore. They came back and sidestepped their set list, brining one of the audience members, who had brought a sign, up to play drums for their first song. Not only did this guest drummer nail the song, he also got the live ending down which impressed the band. After that they took an audience vote over which song to play next, ‘2s and 3s’ or ‘3rd and Long.’ Finally, New Found Glory played their last song and a half, Finishing with ‘My Friends Over You,’ to complete my (and others) trifecta for the night.

While there was so much that made this show great, it was perhaps the crowd that really made it. New Found Glory has more than a ten year history, and it was particularly exciting to see the reaction received when they played songs from their more obscure catalog. Overall it was a spectacular night, proving that pop punks still kicking.

We the Kings plays Mr. Brightside

We the Kings covered Mr. Brightside by the killers when they played at Webster Theatre this past Saturday (3/7/2009). What follows are two clips from that performance. The second of the two features the drummer from the Cab when he came back onstage to drum to this song. Check out the show review

We the Kings, the Cab at Webster Theatre 3/7/2009

Unlike Friday night’s concert, Brand New, Saturday’s was a concert I had some tangible excitement for. It was officially the last stop of the Secret Valentine Tour (though not technically), headlined by We the Kings and supported by the Cab and two other smaller bands.

The Openers
I’m going to keep this short and just say that they were decent. The second band, There for Tommorow, did a good cover of Icebox by Omarion.
The Cab
The Cab was a band who, although I had heard their hit single before, Bounce, I had only gotten their Album that week. Regardless of this fact, I was still enthused to see them perform live. And I was not disappointed. Live, they put on a good show. The audiences really seemed to enjoy their performance and they went particularly crazy when they played their sole hit single. The band from Las Vegas—I know this because they said it about twelve times—didn’t disappoint from any angle, and very overall very satisfying. If you want to read an interview with Cash from the Cab, my friend did one last week. (continues below)

We the Kings
Without much further ado, the lead singer with the red hair was on stage and We the Kings was kicking off their part of the concert. They sounded great, very tight very solid. With a set of super bright lights surrounding the elevated drum in the shape of a W, the feel of the show was full of energy. Despite two things, a) the guitarist not actually being the recorded We the Kings guitarist (real one somewhere in New Mexico?) and b) some technical problems with the guitars near the end, We the Kings kept the show moving. Engaging in Banter, and even singing happy birthday to everyone in the crowd, it was obvious that they had formed a relationship with the Webster (having played it 5 times in 12 months or something ridiculous like that).They also pulled off a good cover of Mr. Brightside in which the drummer from the cab jumped back on stage with drum set to drum along. Finally they came back on to the encore shirtless (at concert goers request), before spitting out their three most famous songs in quick succession Check Yes Juliet, Secret Valentine and their closer Skyway Avenue.

Brand New at Webster Theatre 3/6/2009

With just a weeks notice Brand New, a band that has been fairly obscure (at least to me) since their big radio hits from 03/04, managed to pack the Webster Theatre in a sold out, limited tour schedule show. I have to admit, that prior to this concert the only two songs were those radio hits. Songs "Sic Transit Gloria" and "The Quiet Things that No One Ever Knows."
The Openers
Not the best of bands, but their certainly made their fill as openers. The first band managed to break the record for number of guitars being played on stage that I’ve seen. Including 4 guitarists and 1 bassist (although 3 of the guitarists were sometimes keyboard player’s as well). The dear hunter, under which this feat happened, was probably the better of the two. The other, mewithoutyou, failed to sustain any kind of music I would listen to in any substantial form. In fact they all looked mentally handicapped up on stage—no wonder they ran all their names letters together!
Wait…NeverShoutNever! Is in the other theatre?
Fun story: NeverShoutNever! sold out the underground at the Webster Theatre before Brand New was even announced as an event. The show was packed and screams arose anytime the lead singer, Christopher Drew, said anything in his unusually squeaky voice. For a time I traded one band who scrunched the words in their name together for another. Except the second was actually good. It wasn’t long before we went back to the main stage for the event that packed the larger of the two venues.
Brand New
The stage filled with fog, two drum sets sat alone on stage and the crowd roared. What followed was only slightly short of impressive. I said before that I had only heard two songs before, but the energy of the crowd combined with the solidity of a show that this band put on really raised my opinion of them. The lighting, a mix of white and yellow mainly from the back gave the theatre an epic feel. This was then combined with the songs in which two drummers kept the beat for the song (Jesus Christ and Millstone?)—breaking the record for number of drums I’ve seen played on stage simultaneously. Overall they sounded good, the crowd was responsive and they were a pleaser. Perhaps I’ll think about finding their albums…

the Take Action Tour at Webster (2/15/2009)

The Take Action Tour was last night (2/15/2009) at Hartford’s Webster Theatre. So Here’s a review of the music (because the only other thing I could review would be pant so tight procreation might be a problem further on in life):

Every Avenue:
We walked in right at the end of their set. From what I heard they sounded pretty good, though I haven’t had a chance to go back and check on them again.

Meg & Dia:
While the music of this band was decent, there were several key components that made them just an average band. The first was the twitchy fingered audio-board-ist whose constant medaling through out the majority of the show disrupted the bands cohesiveness. The second was the self-obsessed lead guitarist with his guitar so far up his ass he couldn’t hear that it was deafening anything anyone else in the band was trying to do. This also might have been the fault of Mr. twitchy fingers himself. Lastly dia, the lead singer’s voice was unbelievably soft, combined with ripping asshole guitarist and twitch was a recipe for disaster. (I’ll come back and edit this with a link to interview my friend did before the show because he’s almost as self obsessed as the guitarist)

Breathe Carolina:
All I’m going to say is that I can’t really comment on the music because I didn’t hear any. All I did hear was screaming and so much bass I think I acquired a heart arrhythmia. The lights were cool though.

Cute Is What We Aim For:
Like all the bands this night I’d never really heard any of them before. I was surprised when CIWWAF took the stage, admittedly they looked a lot older than I had imagined. As they began it was really like listening to a CD for the first time for a new artist (except with volume at 11). They did take a while to get into, but by the 5th or 6th song, I would have claimed to like the music that CIWWAF was playing. They’re overall stage presence is good—they have boxes up front which the bassist and lead guitarist pose and jump around on. The whole stage itself is very clean—all their speakers/amps are hidden behind cloth banners on stage.