Jack’s Mannequin at SOMA
I spent my evening with a bunch of people who were mostly half my age. Yes, I went to SOMA tonight to see Jack’s Mannequin. I skipped all of the opening bands (there was no way in hell I was going to sit through Head Automatica) and I timed it perfectly. I walked in just after Head Automatica finished their set. I attempted to find a spot in the front half of the room, but that was a lost cause, so I went with the trusty spot by the sound guys. As soon as the main guy busted out the set list, I typed it into my phone because he actually flipped it over once because he saw people looking at it. Set list secure, I was able to enjoy the show without having to take notes.
Jack’s Mannequin
SOMA Main Stage
2/2/07
Holiday From Real
I’m Ready
Kill The Messenger
Mixed Tape
Miss Delaney
Last Straw
Rescued
Dark Blue
She Paints Me Blue
Punk Rock Princess
Bruised
Into The Airwaves
Encore:
La La Lie
Message in a Bottle (Police cover)
MFEO (Made For Each Other) (With or Without You Teaser)
When they were setting up the stage, I was encouraged that they rolled out a grand piano. The material from the debut album “Everything In Transit” is completely piano driven so I was glad to see the piano instead of a keyboard set up. When Andrew McMahon and the rest of the band came out, the teeny boppers went crazy. As soon as Andrew started in on the chorus from the opening “Holiday From Real”, everyone started singing. I love these emo sing-a-long shows and I was ready to sing along with the girls who were half my age. Andrew was very talkative and made quite a few references about being a so-cal. It was definitely a hometown show for Andrew. I’m pretty sure it was his mom and dad in the sound area rocking out during the show. And someone else in his entourage (manager possibly) stood by me for most of the show and was telling the chick he was with a whole bunch of insider tidbits.
He told her that they spent a bunch of money on the video for “Dark Blue” and that they were disappointed on the lack of airplay since it is a great song. At that point, I had to butt in since “Dark Blue” was definitely my favorite song on the album. So then he told me that Andrew was going to tease a part of a new song in the intro to “Dark Blue”. Cool. For the rest of the night, he would direct comments to me as well.
After “Dark Blue”, Andrew went into this long introduction about the next song….how “Dark Blue” was actually a sequel to the song that he did with his other band, Something Corporate. It is a great song and we were all happy to hear “She Paints Me Blue.” But what made me completely squeal with the teenagers was the next song. It was a re-worked version of “Punk Rock Princess”. It was just Andrew and the bass player (using a stand up bass no less.) Any time I hear that song, it makes me smile and this version was a slam dunk.
Oh…and the encore was great. When I saw “Message In A Bottle” on the set list, I was really hoping that they were covering the Police. Um, yeah. And it was awesome. Though I’m sure most of those people weren’t even born when that song came out. Andrew was loving every minute of that song and even jumped on top of the piano to sing. It was also super cool that Andrew teased a bit of “With or Without You” near the end of “Made For Each Other”. It fit perfectly and was a great way to end the night.
I am really glad that I waited to see them as headliners (it seemed like every time they had been in town, it was opening for someone else.) When I was walking to my car, I just smiled at everyone walking out with me who had nothing but praise for what a great show it was. Amen to that.
P.S. Album version of “Punk Rock Princess” in the listen section. At some point, Andrew told everyone that he didn’t care if we downloaded their music. After all, we did pay to go to the show and also bought merch and what have you. Right on, dude.
