This is his account:
Before the show began, Matt Ernest (KCR Radio DJ) and I were able to gain access to an interview with the band beforehand.
I was pretty stoked on this 1. Because I had never been on a tour bus before 2. It was their first show off the tour 3. It is Motion City Soundtrack, come on! We were invited on the bus and were able to spend 15 minutes with Tony Thaxton (drums) and Matt Taylor (bass/vox) talking about the upcoming tour, music, and Twitter among other things. After we completed the interview, thanked and thanked the band, we headed inside to catch the first set at 7pm. CLICK HERE TO SEE THE INTERVIEW ON YOUTUBE!
Check out the interview on YouTube
First on was Valencia, the four piece group from Philadelphia. I was pretty stoked on seeing them because I picked up their last record, We All Need A Reason To Believe, and liked what I heard, so I was hoping for it to transfer live. In their 20 minute, 5 song set, the band used its time to the fullest playing some songs from their new album Dancing With A Ghost, which was released on Tuesday. It was a great way to start to concert.
Next on was the classic New Jersey powerpop/punk band, Saves The Day. They had a 40 minute set and fed off the high energy from what looked like long time Saves The Day fans. They put together a solid set, stringing together several fan favorites. Only complaint I could have was I wish they were more active on stage, but I cannot discount their awesome musicianship and ability to get the crowd stoked. This was a great way to prepare for the two headliners to come.
Saves The Day
Many people there were amped up for Say Anything, and when the first song played, I could instantly tell why. The kind of energy they bring to the table, it made it fun as someone generally new to their music to enjoy their set tremendously. I can now understand why Max Bemis (lead vox) has almost a cult like following from the fans. His lyrics, dancing, vocals, and just the way he presented himself on stage was able me to categorize him as one of my new favorite front men. The band even gave the fans a special treat playing and old song called “Color Blind” which came off their album Baseball. Additionally, Max invited out Chris Conley and Arun Bali of Saves The Day to perform “Crawl” off of Max and Chris’s side project, Two Tongues. Say Anything tour it up and set the table nicely for Motion City Soundtrack.
Max Bemis and Chris Conley performing Two Tongues
The band everyone was waiting for, Motion City Soundtrack, came out to great ovation as they ripped through classic songs to newer songs from My Dinosaur Life. It was awesome to finally see this band live and so close because I really got to see how it all worked. From Justin Pierre’s amazing lyrics and side jokes for when they weren’t to watching Matt and Josh play guitar and bass on the side, Tony getting it done on drums. I especially loved how Jesse (keys) was so intense into everything, including how he drank his water. Picking up on the little things of how much fun the band was having really made it an enjoyable experience.
It was great to see they played a lot of the fans favorites and even came out with some previously unperformed songs with “Weekends” and “Hysteria”. Only thing that was sort of a buzzkill was the time constraints at the venue so the band had to cut its set slightly short, but overall, I do not feel they left the fans disappointed by their performance.
Justin Pierre and Jesse Johnson of Motion City Soundtrack
This show was awesome and I think I should leave it at about that. Make sure you check out one of the other dates the bands will be on this tour:
October 14th Soma San Diego, CA
15th Avalon Los Angeles, CA
16th House Of Blues Anaheim, CA
17th Regency San Francisco, CA
19th Sodo Seattle, WA
20th Crystal Ballroom Portland, OR
22nd Avalon Salt Lake City, UT
23rd Summit Denver, CO
24th Sokol Auditorium Omaha, NE
26th Pageant St. Louis, MO
27th The Rave Milwaukee, WI
28th First Avenue Minneapolis, MN
30th House Of Blues Chicago, IL
31st House Of Blues Chicago, IL
November 1st Bogarts Cincinnati, OH
3rd Fillmore Detroit, MI
4th Sound Academy Toronto, ON
5th Starland Sayreville, NJ
6th Lupo’s Providence, RI
8th House Of Blues Boston, MA
9th Nokia New York, NY
10th Electric Factory Philadelphia, PA
12th Sonar Baltimore, MD
13th Amo’s Charlotte, NC
14th Variety Theater Atlanta, GA
16th Revolution Ft. Lauderdale, FL
17th House Of Blues Orlando, FL
19th Palladium Dallas, TX
20th Warehouse Live Houston, TX
21st Stubb’s Austin, TX
