philcrissman.com

I went to see the Solid State/Youngbloods II Tour (warning: previous link will autoplay loud music) last night.

I don’t want to be mean, but the first 3 bands on the line up didn’t really do it for me — they had a few moments, but mostly I found myself laughing at the music. That sounds really unkind, and I hope they don’t read this and hate me, but some of it just sounded and looked so cheesy it was humorous. It wasn’t all bad, and I hope they get to keep on playing and polishing their music, because there’s definitely some promise there.

Then, on the other hand, there were the bands August Burns Red, and the Chariot.

August Burns Red tore it up; this was my first exposure to them, and I was totally impressed. The music was relentlessly heavy and the band was incredibly tight. I personally think the band name is a little silly, but then again, I’m ultra-critical; and when a band sounds this good, who cares what they call themselves? Did anyone like “the Pixies” because of their name?

The Chariot (link will autoplay music) set was absolute chaos, true to form. Words can’t really do the show justice — even listening to the music on the site does not really convey the performance. The band members never stop moving; guitars and microphone stands are chucked into the air. Not to mention into the wall. They closed the set by knocking half their speakers over and throwing the microphone into the balcony — now there’s one way to avoid playing an encore.

Speaking of avoiding encores… that’s something I really liked about the show. There’s something totally fake about a headlining band leaving the stage stating it was their “last song,” but then just going and hanging out around the corner until the shouting gets loud enough for them to come back out and play the “encore” that they had been planning to play anyways. I mean, what the heck would they do if no one shouted for them to come back? Lame.

I guess this isn’t a typical post, but oh well. In the off chance that any readers are also fans of this sort of music, I hope you enjoyed it.

Image found here.