Fall Out Boy/The Acadamy Is.../Silverstein/Gym Class Heroes 5/05, Avalon Boston

When you walk away from a show that you went to, only knowing the headling band, and end up with at least two new fave bands? Priceless.

The Gym Class Heroes were charming, to say the least. A blend of punk and hip hop that I hadn't heard before, I must admit, I was spellbound at this new sound. Frontman Travis has a damn good voice, even though his odd facial expressions and the constant dedicating of every song to Kelly Clarkson did distact a bit. From the emo/punk/rock band name dropping of "Taxi Driver" to the bleeding heart lyrics of "Papercuts", they simply astounded. GCH showed their humorous side with the witty "Make Out Club", and the crowd went nuts when Fall Out Boy frontman took the mic for the song "Cupid's Chokehold", a song he duets on on GCH's new CD The Papercut Chronicles , a must-buy.

Another must buy would be the new cd by Chicago's The Acadamy Is.. (aptly named Almost Here). Ture, their sound is reminicent of New Jersey's Taking Back Sunday, hell, singer William Beckett looks like what Adam Lazzara's younger brother should look like. But they take the softemoXcore sound, and make it better. Deep, insiteful lyrics make them a perfect match for the headliners, and the engery they exuded spread through the crowd like wildfire. They impressed with every song, like the crowd-pleaser "Classifieds", and their songs were so infectious, I was singing them for days after. They are definatly Almost Here , by "here", I mean the big time.

The only fault to the show was the addition of screamo rockers Silverstein to the bill. Given the genre they were in, there were a good, solid band, albit a bit cliche'd. Perhaps on a differnt bill, most likely one involving The Used, or My Chemical Romance, they'd be a better fit. Their worth checking out a second time, however.

Fall Out Boy gets better every time I see them. I took notice of them when they opened for fellow Chi-Town boys Mest, but in the time that passed since that show (about a year), they've massively improved. Many of the songs came from their Fueled by Ramen release, Take This To Your Grave, though they reached back to their Uprising Records lp Evening Out With Your Girlfriend to please the older fans with "Honorable Mention" (complete with an 80's pop culture reference to movie star John Cusack!). They debuted a few songs of their new release From Under The Cork Tree, leaving the crowd to sing on their hit single "Sugar, We're Going Down". This is one band everyone needs to see at least once. Welcome back, talent, welcome back. We've missed you.


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