Last night I was totally pumped up to go and watch what I thought was going to be an awesome concert. The bands that playing were The Dear & Departed, Alexisonfire, Norma Jean, and Saosin. Alexisonfire and Saosin I have been big fans of. Saosin’s recent full length CD is one of my favorite all time CDs. Alexisonfire is a little edgey but awesome melodies and choruses. Anyways let the review begin:

The Dear & Departed
We showed up just as The Dear & Departed started playing. They seemed alright at first, until you looked up on stage and saw the lead singer sliding across stage, dancing as if his manager had told him.. “Hey if you want to make it big, you gotta dance.” Obviously the dude couldn’t dance for a lick, and it didn’t help that his voice was horrible. They didn’t have much stage presence at all and their songs lacked energy. Luckily the beer tasted good.

Alexisonfire
This band always puts on a great show, even if the crowd isn’t into them a whole lot. These guys are the definition of “Screamo” but they follow it up with great melodies and rifts. Every song is full of energy and excitement. They played a very good collection of songs, but their last song kind of lost me. I hadn’t heard it before and it slowed down dramatically from the rest of their set. All in all I was very please with their performance, just a little disappointed in their last song. They were without a doubt the only highlight of the concert.

Norma Jean
I’m going to try and keep an open mind about this band. Definitely not my style of music at all. They bring it hard and loud with angry vocals and constant screaming. I will say for their fans though, they put on a great show. With all of the fanfare and lighting effects they seemed to be the headliner of the tour. The fans were really into it and for that I give them props. I’m not a huge fan of their music but I can respect them for putting on a good show. It was the first band to draw out the crowd surfers, and anytime you’re at a concert and start seeing crowd surfers you start to get a little energized yourself.

Saosin
Well normally you would save the best for last, as it goes with any concert. This is the band that we paid 20 dollars to go see. Their CD was absolutely amazing with great melodies, rifts, vocals.. everything. Great mixture of songs. We were about 30 feet back and just off to the right of center when they started. I couldn’t help but notice a very obvious echo coming from the lead singers mic and the back up vocals of the bass player and rhythm guitar were horrible. I figured it might be where we were standing so we moved back and towards the middle of the stage. Nothing changed, they just flat out sounded bad. I think the sound guy even realized how bad the bass players voice was and turned down his mic, but then the Tool just walked across stage and used the other guitarist mic. They sounded so bad I wanted to leave half way through. It was a total disappointment and might even have a lasting effect on whether or not I go see them in concert again. Along with them sounding bad, the over all performance of the show was very cheap and not entertaining at all.

With that said I would rate the bands as following: Alexisonfire (Great sound and good songlist), Norma Jean (Good overall performance, just not a fan of their music), Saosin (Just because the first band was that lame), The Dear & Departed (First band, can’t expect too much out of them.)

Tonight Saosin, Norma Jean, Alexisonfire, and The Dear & Departed will be preforming at Jannus Landing. Hands down the greatest place to watch a show, especially during this time of year. It’s an outside venue that’s located in the middle of a city block. Leland and I always thought it would be the greatest place to live, cause of all the sweet shows you’d catch. Well tonight is going to be a great show.

We first heard Saosin when we met our friend Rob. They were playing at the Orpheum in downtown Ybor (Tampa, FL). I believe they were either the first or second band to play that night, and to tell you the truth I wasn’t all that impressed. I liked them but it wasn’t the best I have ever heard. Then about a year later they released their first full-length album. The CD completely blew me away. Every song is very well crafted and unique in their own way. I have probably listened to the entire CD in it’s entirety 200 times.

I’m also a pretty big fan of Alexisonfire too. Not big on the whole screaming part, but the lead guitarist (Dallas) has one of the best voices I have heard. His solo work, City of Colour (He’s Canadian), is amazing. A definite addition to any music collection. I’m planning on the night going something like this:

• Get to Jannus just before 7:00pm, as the first band is just starting.
• Quickly grab a huge $8 Bud Light.
• Proceed to our designated viewing spot (Right around mid-court, next to the sound board).
• BS about how sweet the concert is going to be, ignoring the first band
• Rock out like a 13 year old for Alexisonfire
• Listen to Norma Jean and talk about all of the suicidal teenagers, “Death is my Bitch Lover..” “You tell that mean ocean Todd.”
• Go crazy for Saosin. (Crazy as in nod our heads and cheer after each song.)
• Reminisce how great of a concert it was with Leland.
• Go home.

And that’s pretty much it. Each concert has it’s ups and downs, but really they are all about the same. The music ends up being great, by the bands we goto see and the other bands leave something to be desired. I think the greatest part about these concerts though, is that it’s still the time when Leeks and I throw back some tasty beverages and just have a good time. Definitely excited about the show.

Ever since the RIAA went on this witch hunt for illegal downloaders, this whole music issue has gotten out of hand. A similar organization is suing a auto shop in UK. Mechanics at the shop have apparently been playing their radios loud enough for others to hear it. Performing Rights Society (PRS) has logged over 200 incidents of this happening and are asking for nearly 200,000 Pounds in compensation.

I completely understand the idea of having a license to play music at a bar or in a retail store, sort of. A license like that would cost a business around 30k a year. That is insanely crazy! 30k just to play some music. If someone buys a CD for 10 dollars they should be able to play that CD however they like. Do teachers get fined when they read a book to kids in school? Maybe they do need a license for that, I’m not sure.

Pretty soon there will be tickets given out to people with their windows down at stop lights, and their music playing. I think this whole copyright music issue has come about because of all the downloading. These agencies are finding any last resort to scrounge up every last penny they can. Even if that means coming up with absurd lawsuits like this one.

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Leland and I went to a pretty sweet concert this weekend. There were a couple bands we were familiar with, and then one that seemed to be the crowd favorite that we didn’t. One of the bands we went to go see, didn’t disappoint, the other did. In all it was a good concert, filled with loads of “NO” kids. “NO” is what they put in big black permanent letters on the hands of kids under 21. I’m not sure if it’s for the bartenders or predators. Anyways, while sitting around after the concert, Leland and I were trying to come up with the best concert ever. Who would play, if only for one song.. and you could choose 10 bands.

Obviously the time it takes to change stage doesn’t matter, just 10 of your best concert songs from your favorite bands, or not so favorite bands. It’s all about concert experience. I have seen bands that totally rock on stage, but suck otherwise.. or even bands that sound awesome on their CD then totally blow live (more often).

Here is my list, in no specific order:

Days Away - Keep Your Voices Down
MXPX - The Darkets Places
Armor For Sleep - Dream To Make Believe
Less Than Jake - Look What Happened
Taking Back Sunday - Cute Without The “E”
Receiving End of Sirens - Planning A Prison Break
Fall Out Boy - The Patron Saint of Liars and Fakes
Alexisonfire - Accidents
Matchbook Romance - Promise
Moneen - Start Angry…And Mad

Those are probably the most memorable songs from concerts that I have been too. I’m sure I have missed a couple and Leland will be able to add to this list.. but I’d like to hear of other great songs from great concerts.