When we got into the club, My Chemical Romance was on the stage looking like they were going to play. However, they said "we'll be back in ten minutes" and psyched everyone out. I guess the club was waiting for more people to fill in or something. Well, once they finally did go on, they played their version or dark punk mixed with hardcore and 35% secret ingredient. Going through songs that everybody should know by now like "This is the Best Day Ever", right down to "Honey, This Mirror Isn't Big Enough for the Two of Us", My Chemical Romance ripped shit up and even started a mini-pit. When their singer Gerard thanked the crowd for being so cool, one kid yelled that they were better than Taking Back Sunday. After a Morrissey cover (you have to hear them play this) of "Jack the Ripper", My Chemical Romance closed with "Vampires Will Never Hurt You". Waiting the ten minutes was probably really smart, considering most of the sold out looking crowd was in at this point and was able to enjoy My Chemical Romance. My only complaint is that they weren't a part of the whole tour, for more people to enjoy, but I got to see them so oh well.
Next up on the show was Christiansen, one of my favorite bands. I'll say it before and I'll say it again, I just think these guys seem to get better the more that I see them. Last time I saw them (which was at Skatefest), they had a shorter set, so playing second on this show allowed more time for them to rock. The one thing I noticed this time around was the mean drumming of Terry. Yeah, I have this thing with watching drummers lately. Aside from how Brandon and Robby move around without care, Terry just goes to school on his drumset. Christiansen is really the epitome of a rock'n'roll show. They have some techno dance music inbetween their songs to tide you over more than just the talking or dead air of most bands. Complete with the lights, Christiansen exemplifies rock'n'roll, baby. They also have a musical sound quite unlike any other band I've ever heard or seen. At one point, Brandon also went through to some of the girls in the very front and it looked like he just kind of hugged them or put his head on their shoulder. Either way, it seemed to freak them out. Then, later, those same girls were hiding from the flailing guitars and limbs. Plus they played "Let Us All Die Famous Men", which is just what a longer set can do for you. Rock'n'roll.
Speaking of rock'n'roll, here comes Recover. They didn't open with "Pardon the Wait" for once, but they did play it. Going completely through songs from their full length (Rodeo and Picasso) like "Betting All I Have" right down to some of the songs of their new EP like "Bad Timing", "Inhaling Water" and "Push Push" which contains the classic t-shirt line "Pain disappear I'll do anything". Recover pretty much smashed through their rocking set in pure Recover style, and at one point Dan even threatened "Form a pit for this song or I'm going to come out there and do it myself!" The crowd was really responsive and, well, Recover just plain fucking rocks. Complete with Dan picking up the bass drum and trying to smash it (he's not their drummer) right down to Gabe from Midtown coming up to sing with them, this is the rock'n'recover show motherfuckers.
Midtown headlined, so they played last. They played a bunch of new songs and they even played some songs off of "Save the World Lose the Girl". It was a really good set, and I'm enjoying Midtown more now that they have a wider range of songs to choose from to play (ever since their new CD came out and they can do more than just say "This is a new song" and have us have no idea what that means). Midtown just rocks as well, and no matter how much you may think they are poppy, they have a huge influence in punk as they just rip up the stage. During "Let Go", they actually decided to have a dance contest and asked if anyone knew how to break dance. I was near the back, but pointed to my friend PJ anyway, just as a joke. To which Gabe yelled "Who's back there Josh? You have somebody? Is that PJ?", and when I said yes, he urged PJ to come up and for me to bring him, though PJ's bandmate Ben handled most of that for me. So PJ got into this dance contest with this other kid who was really enjoying himself the whole show, but the other kid most did some hardcore moves like picking up rocks or whatever the hell they pick up when they dance like they dropped their beanies. PJ clearly beat that kid with his white tornado dance (insanely funny shit), but then a girl came up and contended his title. She actually did a backflip, so I'll give her some credit, but on a whole I think it's like Tyler said, "Being a heterosexual male, I'm voting for the girl". PJ was robbed!!
After some hilarious stuff with Rob their drummer (which may have actually been before the dance contest), Ross from Recover came up and grabbed Gabe's bass and Gabe sang the last song then launched himself into the crowd. He decided that instead of doing the typical walk off and come back for two songs encore, they'd just stay there and play them, which is always smart because I've never quite understand the walk off and come back on stage thing myself.
On a whole, this was a really fun show and I'm betting a really great tour. What sucks is there is only three dates of it left so I hope you caught one of them.
-Nacho
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