PATD, MCS, THS, and PP at SOMA
The kids at SOMA were treated to a great show last night. All four bands - Phantom Planet, The Hush Sound, Motion City Soundtrack and Panic at the Disco - sounded great. And it seemed like each of the openers had a bunch of fans in the crowd. Make sense since The Hush Sound has toured with P@TD for the past two big tours. And MCS and PP also lend themselves to this type of crowd. So it was a big lovefest for sure.
I didn’t catch all of Phantom Planet. When I got there (after a much deserved nap), they were already doing “Big Brat”. Alex (their lead singer) was very energetic and led the band in an extended riff where he asked everyone to jump along with them. It was awesome. They ended with “California” but it was a little more rock than I expected (a good thing.) Alex asked the crowd if he could crowd surf after “California”. Surprisingly enough, he got through 3/4 of the way to the sound booth. He then walked though the crowd and ended up right next to me as he was mobbed by fans wanting photos. Very cool.
The Hush Sound came on for their short set and played a few new ones from their latest album Goodbye Blues along with some old faves like “We Intertwined” and “Wine Red”. Of the new ones, the set opener “Medicine Man” and the closing “Honey” really stood out. (Nice set list guys.) They’ve really progressed as far as their stage presence and sound since the first time I saw them opening up for Panic in 2006. Bob and Greta weren’t as talkative as I have seen them, but with three opening bands, they were smart to get as much in as possible, which means more songs and less talk.
In between bands, we were subjected to a bunch of Panic propoganda (this tour was sponsored by Honda Civic so it was really expected). But they also played some good videos - Justice’s “Dance” (which everyone was dancing to - duh) Muse’s “Knights of Cydonia”, DCFC’s “Crooked Teeth”, Gnarls Barkley’s “Run”, and Regina Spektor’s “Better”. I hadn’t seen any of those videos - that Justice one is freaking cool.
Motion City Soundtrack was next. I’ve always liked their quirky power pop. (Okay, the Mark Hoppus produced second album, not so much, but I loved I Am The Movie and have a lot of love for the new album Even If It Kills Me. ) Their set was heavy on the new stuff - which most of the crowd seemed to know, especially the single “This Is For Real”. I was digging on the lyrics to “It Had to Be You” - Let’s get wrecked on pop tarts and sex and see the Taj Mahal. Nice. But I was really stoked on the gems from the first album - the set opener “My Favorite Accident” and the set ending “The Future Freaks Me Out.”
And Panic. Oh Panic. Everyone was wishing Brendon (the lead singer) a Happy Birthday...he turned 21 last night. So with that joyous celebration as a backdrop, their set was very loose and fun. They opened with the first two tracks of Pretty.Odd - “We’re So Starving” and “Nine in the Afternoon”. Then they headed into some old faves ("Martyrdom and Suicide”, “Lying") and pretty much alternated old and new throughout the set. I thought they were really dialing it in as far as the old stuff. They looked much more engaged performing the new stuff. Which is good - I like the direction of the new album. It really incorporated a lot of different musical influences. Some gems from the new album were “She’s a Handsome Woman”, “That Green Gentleman” and the set ending “Northern Downpour”.
I didn’t stay for the encore, I had other stuff going on. (Some of you know where you can read about that.) But I took copious notes so the full set lists are available if you rawk on.
