Last night I saw one of my favorite bands ever play live for the third time.
A Day To Remember is on my top 5 bands list, and they've been there for years. One of the biggest reasons I love them so much is because they're just phenomenal live. Their showmanship is incredible.
Title Fight opened the night on a terrible note. I've never heard of them, and now that I've heard them, I'm happy to never hear them again. It was a mishmash of moans and squeaks. I joked to my fiance that the singer reminded me of Young Frankenstein's monster singing "Puttin' On The Ritz." The drummer was the only one with real talent. The rest was iffy at best. I cheered very loudly when they announced that they only had three songs left.
A Day To Remember came on next and the show was incredible. They started off loud and fast and kept it up for the whole hour or so they played. I never wanted the set to end. Their songs are perfectly suited for audience "shout-a-longs" and the band took advantage of it. Every other song had a verse for the audience to sing back. The singer talked to the audience and kept us engaged. From the moment A Day To Remember took the stage to the moment they left, I felt as though I was important to the band, as though my presence mattered. At one point, the singer got into a giant plastic ball and walked (stumbled) around on top of the crowd. We felt important. Every song sounded as good live as it does on the CD. And they've been this good every time I've seen them. From the first time when they played on a teeny, tiny stage at Warped Tour, to the next year when they played a medium stage to now, playing at the ShoWare Center after touring Europe with Rise Against. A Day To Remember knows how to put on a show.
Rise Against ended the night too loudly. Something was wrong with the equalizer and volume. Rise Against was louder than A Day To Remember, which doesn't make sense, since ADTR's music has much more bass. Whatever was wrong made Rise Against echo painfully, in a way that made the echoes scream. The songs were almost unintelligible due to the volume. I've been to many concerts, but none have made my ears hurt that badly. Added to that, Rise Against just wasn't as engaging. I really love the band, but their showmanship just didn't follow ADTR's very well. I had to plug my ears in order to stand inside the arena. (A really nice guy noticed me using my hands when he was leaving. When he came back into the arena, he had bought me earplugs! What a nice guy!) The fiance and I left after five or six songs. The music and atmosphere was killed by the volume.
Overall, it was a good night. Only three things could have made it better: A different opener band, Rise Against's volume and EQ being fixed and my sister coming along like she was supposed to. (Oh, family drama.)
What's the best show you've ever been to and why?
No comments:
Post a Comment