Perşembe 11 Eki 2007, 23:33

Wed 10 Oct – Circa Survive, Fear Before the March of Flames, Ours, Dear and the Headlights

Overall - sick show, but mostly thanks to Circa.

My friends and I got there maybe 10 minutes late, so I think we missed a few Dear and the Headlights songs. But, what I heard - I liked. They were hard to compare to other bands, so I guess they were unique, but I didn't get that explicit impression. The singer looked like Eddie Vedder, but at times sorta sounded like Conor Oberst. I also felt like the band's sound drew upon a classic rock sound, like Kansas or the Allman Bros. One last comment about them: As I am a drummer I often like to watch the drummer and I thought that their drummer was great - he put together some interesting, well-coordinated parts.

Unlike j0yce I have to say that I really like Fear Before The March of Flames (I love their dynamics, melodies, and I think their lyrics are clever and have great depth), but I do agree with her that their set was disappointing. I was really looking forward to seeing them, but it sucked for the following reasons:
a) I didn't know most of the songs they played (they must be new - I don't have the new album yet)
b) They didn't seem to energetic - In particular, they played a lousy version of "Taking Cassandra To The End Of The World Party" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW6h2VhMX7Y which was REALLY disappointing because that's my fav. song by them.
c) It seemed like 99% of the crowd either didn't like them or didn't know them at all - that really brought down the mood

Also relative to j0yce's comment: I agree that the singer has def. changed his style of singing, and I think his voice had a lot more edge and was more flattering before. Granted, before his voice was basically unintelligible, even sometimes when reading along w/ the lyrics. But, aside from that, I thought he was VERY entertaining to watch - he just really got into his music, and had a creepy sexualness to his movements.

Now, onto Ours: My friends would have agreed with j0yce that the singer looked like Bono. I felt he was more of a Trent Reznor. Actually, he also very much resembled my ex-gf. Now, I'm not sure what that says about my taste, or that guys' appearance. Haha.

So, at first I liked Ours - I thought they had a definite groove and unique sound. But they did sound somewhat dated (The drumming, especially, was reminiscent of older rock bands. Drumming has really come to the forefront in music now - listen to what Steve from Circa plays in every song - amazing stuff). But, after a while, the songs literally blended together, and it seemed like most of the time the band wasn't playing - their singer was just going on and on. He has an awesome voice, but I need more texture and dynamics to the sound. Overall I would say they sound like Dredg, if Dredg was a jam band.

Also - their lead guitarist looked just like Lenny Kravitz.

Finally - Circa Survive. Now, let me say that this was the 5th time that I've seen Circa within a year. And the last time I saw them was 2 weeks to the day before at Northeastern University (It was an AMAZING show in a little, coffee-house-type setting. There were only about 100 people there, and they hung around with people after they played.)

So, Circa's visual FX for last nights show were amazing. They had: a huge video screen, glittering confetti that was shot out into the crowd, bubble machines, fog machines, strobe lights AND maybe 30 of these HUGE balloons, which the crowd - and Anthony Green - was throwing around all night.

I loved their setlist, my only complaint being that they didn't play "The Glorious Nosebleed". But, the acoustic "House of Leaves" was an excellent addition. And, in addition, my friend caught the pick he used to play that song!

Overall I'd say this show tied for 2nd among the other times I've seen them. The 1st (best show they put on) was when they played at NEU. The other show tied for 2nd was when they played at the Tweeter Center this past Warped Tour. If you were there, you know he was high as hell - and put on an amazing show: http://youtube.com/watch?v=r-XR4Pn8jCk Part of what what hindered my enjoyment of this show was that it felt less raw and personal, and more commercialized compared to previous shows. I think this is because everyone was singing along like a Dashboard show. (That's not a hit at DC, I've seen him 5 times, love him - he's just a definite sing-along band.)

Anyways, I left drenched in sweat, sore and exhausted - and very happy.