February 16th in Victorville
I saw the Say No to Neon tour two nights in a row, so most of this night was the same as the last show I wrote about. It was AVP's last night on the tour so they were pretty silly. They intro'd one song as "We All Need a Reason to Believe" and dedicated something else to Wapner I think. And instead of "Lisa Marie," they called it "Joshua Marie." Cute. While they were playing, George and Hodge were jumping around on light boxes off the side of the stage. Also amusing.
During Houston Calls' set, the AVP jumped back on stage with masks on and their shirts pulled up to mess with the HC guys. I think some of them had silly string as well. It's always fun to see tour-end antics.
Valencia dropped "Away we Go" and played "Head in Hands," but everything else in their set was about the same. The crowd was much smaller in Victorville than it was at Chain so all the bands were struggling to make the crowd energized, but Valencia made it happen for their last few songs so that was nice to see as well. Once again, a wonderful show.
Monday, February 23, 2009
one hundred and seventeen
Sunday, February 15th at Chain.
Lucky for me, I arrived just after Eudora's set was done so I didn't have to suffer through that. :) Not a big fan of them, I'm (not so) sorry to say. The Break Up played shortly after I walked in and they weren't horrible or anything, but not really good either. They had a chick drummer and singer, so right on to that, but everything from their lyrics to whatever the singer said between songs was mega cliche. One of their songs literally went, "Dance dance dance on a Saturday night." Awesome. They were alright though, just nothing special.
Artist vs Poet played third and I really really liked them. Honestly, I probably would've compared the singer, Tarcy, to the Jonas Brothers if you gave them a few more years to really get control of their vocal styles or whatever. He sounded like he could've been the older older brother, and I totally don't mean that as an insult. I nabbed their EP after the show and have been playing it non-stop lately. It's just good, fun pop rock. My favorite. :)
Houston Calls was up next and I only really had heard two of their songs before seeing them so I didn't have any crazy expectations. I noticed that the singer's voice sounds a little different live than recorded to me, but they put on a pretty good set and were all very entertaining, especially him and Okie, the key boardist. He actually dislodged his keyboar from its stand during their last song and almost dropped it on the floor. That was amusing, but all throughout the set they were calling people out for not being into it and just having a good time. I liked them a lot.
Valencia headlined (first headlining tour for them on BOTH coasts, very exciting) and it just reminded me why they are one of my absolute favorite bands. They put on such a great live show it's ridiculous. I got really excited during the soundcheck because Hodge pulled out an acoustic and I thought maybe I'd get to hear "From the Second I Wake Up," but no go. I did finally get to hear my new favorite, "Listen Up," which was wonderful. They played "Holiday," "Safe to Say," "3000 Miles," "Better Be Prepared," "Where Did You Go," "The Good Life," "Away We Go," "All At Once," "Listen Up," and "The Space Between." I was very pleased overall. :D
Lucky for me, I arrived just after Eudora's set was done so I didn't have to suffer through that. :) Not a big fan of them, I'm (not so) sorry to say. The Break Up played shortly after I walked in and they weren't horrible or anything, but not really good either. They had a chick drummer and singer, so right on to that, but everything from their lyrics to whatever the singer said between songs was mega cliche. One of their songs literally went, "Dance dance dance on a Saturday night." Awesome. They were alright though, just nothing special.
Artist vs Poet played third and I really really liked them. Honestly, I probably would've compared the singer, Tarcy, to the Jonas Brothers if you gave them a few more years to really get control of their vocal styles or whatever. He sounded like he could've been the older older brother, and I totally don't mean that as an insult. I nabbed their EP after the show and have been playing it non-stop lately. It's just good, fun pop rock. My favorite. :)
Houston Calls was up next and I only really had heard two of their songs before seeing them so I didn't have any crazy expectations. I noticed that the singer's voice sounds a little different live than recorded to me, but they put on a pretty good set and were all very entertaining, especially him and Okie, the key boardist. He actually dislodged his keyboar from its stand during their last song and almost dropped it on the floor. That was amusing, but all throughout the set they were calling people out for not being into it and just having a good time. I liked them a lot.
Valencia headlined (first headlining tour for them on BOTH coasts, very exciting) and it just reminded me why they are one of my absolute favorite bands. They put on such a great live show it's ridiculous. I got really excited during the soundcheck because Hodge pulled out an acoustic and I thought maybe I'd get to hear "From the Second I Wake Up," but no go. I did finally get to hear my new favorite, "Listen Up," which was wonderful. They played "Holiday," "Safe to Say," "3000 Miles," "Better Be Prepared," "Where Did You Go," "The Good Life," "Away We Go," "All At Once," "Listen Up," and "The Space Between." I was very pleased overall. :D
Monday, February 2, 2009
one hundred and sixteen
January 31st at Chain.
I showed up just in time for Hello Hollywood, a sweet-as-candy pop rock band from Arizona. The music was alright, but the vocals didn't impress me at all. Plenty of people (mostly pre-teen girls) seemed very excited to see them though. I didn't realize until I got there the the majority of the lineup was literally the closest thing to boy band pop rock you can find. Not that I'm complaining necessarily; I enjoy pop rock, I really do. I'm just not a fan of the crowd at most of those shows anymore, mainly because they make me feel old. :(
Anyway, moving right along. We Are the Arsenal was up next, and really didn't fit well with the roster at all in my opinion. Them and Run Doris Run were both much harder/darker rock than the rest of the bands playing, but for me that was sort of a relief factor so maybe it was a good thing. So WATA was swell, everyone looked and sounded great. It makes me a laugh a little to notice how much more comfortable Alan is on stage than anywhere else, but it also makes me very happy for him to have finally found a band again. Also, Peter is the sweetest and way too cute for life. :)
Run Doris Run was up next, and I was actually very much looking forward to FINALLY seeing them play. I met them once four years ago outside of another show at Chain, when they were still going by Blank Label, and I've always wanted to see them live since then and I just never had a chance to, or it was never under good circumstances. It's been so long and they've changed so much that I actually didn't recognize them while they were setting up, but I was quite pleased with their set. They've grown out of the pop rock sound a little bit and gone somewhat edgier and more in a hard rock direction, but it was still pretty light and a lot of fun to listen to. I'm glad I finally got to see them.
This Century, another Arizona pop rock group, was up after that. Their music was interesting, a bit more funky than the opener, but still very pop-sounding as well. Not bad. The lyrics sounded a little cheesy at times, but nobody's perfect. Other than that, their set really didn't stand out that much. After the show I was sitting outside waiting to see the WATA guys and I guess the This Century singer was not too far behind me because I got sucked into one of those groupie circles of girls waiting for pictures and autographs. :puke: I'll admit, I totally used to be one of them, but at least when Ashley and I waited around those, we were polite and not just standing around waiting to be able to say we had met some band member. And we KNEW who we were talking to too, but I'll get back to that later.
The headliner was yet another Arizona band, but this one I could actually see myself getting very hooked on. The Summer Set ended the show with a very sweet set, including two covers - Katy Perry's "Hot n Cold" and Usher's "Love in This Club." Very amusing. Good sound, good vocals, they seem to be pretty talented so I'll definitely be looking into their music a bit more in the future.
As for feeling old at shows, good lord, it's annoying. I realize with the music I listen to, I'm totally asking for it, but I can't help that. Pop rock is too much fun, but the fans are so obnoxious hahah. I was talking to Alan after the show and two girls came up and asked him to sign some stuff, and then proceeded to ask if he was in We Are the Arsenal.. AFTER asking him to sign something. Not only that, but they had to ask him which of the people behind us were also in the band so they could get autographs from them as well. Good lord, people are ridiculous.
Band Links:
www.myspace.com/hellohollywoodband
www.myspace.com/wearethearsenal
www.myspace.com/rundorisrun
www.myspace.com/thiscentury
www.myspace.com/thesummerset
I showed up just in time for Hello Hollywood, a sweet-as-candy pop rock band from Arizona. The music was alright, but the vocals didn't impress me at all. Plenty of people (mostly pre-teen girls) seemed very excited to see them though. I didn't realize until I got there the the majority of the lineup was literally the closest thing to boy band pop rock you can find. Not that I'm complaining necessarily; I enjoy pop rock, I really do. I'm just not a fan of the crowd at most of those shows anymore, mainly because they make me feel old. :(
Anyway, moving right along. We Are the Arsenal was up next, and really didn't fit well with the roster at all in my opinion. Them and Run Doris Run were both much harder/darker rock than the rest of the bands playing, but for me that was sort of a relief factor so maybe it was a good thing. So WATA was swell, everyone looked and sounded great. It makes me a laugh a little to notice how much more comfortable Alan is on stage than anywhere else, but it also makes me very happy for him to have finally found a band again. Also, Peter is the sweetest and way too cute for life. :)
Run Doris Run was up next, and I was actually very much looking forward to FINALLY seeing them play. I met them once four years ago outside of another show at Chain, when they were still going by Blank Label, and I've always wanted to see them live since then and I just never had a chance to, or it was never under good circumstances. It's been so long and they've changed so much that I actually didn't recognize them while they were setting up, but I was quite pleased with their set. They've grown out of the pop rock sound a little bit and gone somewhat edgier and more in a hard rock direction, but it was still pretty light and a lot of fun to listen to. I'm glad I finally got to see them.
This Century, another Arizona pop rock group, was up after that. Their music was interesting, a bit more funky than the opener, but still very pop-sounding as well. Not bad. The lyrics sounded a little cheesy at times, but nobody's perfect. Other than that, their set really didn't stand out that much. After the show I was sitting outside waiting to see the WATA guys and I guess the This Century singer was not too far behind me because I got sucked into one of those groupie circles of girls waiting for pictures and autographs. :puke: I'll admit, I totally used to be one of them, but at least when Ashley and I waited around those, we were polite and not just standing around waiting to be able to say we had met some band member. And we KNEW who we were talking to too, but I'll get back to that later.
The headliner was yet another Arizona band, but this one I could actually see myself getting very hooked on. The Summer Set ended the show with a very sweet set, including two covers - Katy Perry's "Hot n Cold" and Usher's "Love in This Club." Very amusing. Good sound, good vocals, they seem to be pretty talented so I'll definitely be looking into their music a bit more in the future.
As for feeling old at shows, good lord, it's annoying. I realize with the music I listen to, I'm totally asking for it, but I can't help that. Pop rock is too much fun, but the fans are so obnoxious hahah. I was talking to Alan after the show and two girls came up and asked him to sign some stuff, and then proceeded to ask if he was in We Are the Arsenal.. AFTER asking him to sign something. Not only that, but they had to ask him which of the people behind us were also in the band so they could get autographs from them as well. Good lord, people are ridiculous.
Band Links:
www.myspace.com/hellohollywoodband
www.myspace.com/wearethearsenal
www.myspace.com/rundorisrun
www.myspace.com/thiscentury
www.myspace.com/thesummerset
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