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This night did not start off without its fair share of stress and aggravation. Relying on my cell phone GPS to get to Matt's house, my phone decided to die on me. I was already running late, so the nerves were running at a marathan pace, even though there wasn't a huge rush to get to the show, since we mainly wanted to see Silverstein (I would have liked to see Alesana, but I wasn't heartbroken that I missed them).
Luckily, I was at a strip mall that had an AT&T store right there. Trying to find a parking space pushed the nerves to another level, especially watching people luck into spots as I drove around like an aimless fool. I eventually found a spot and the guys at AT&T told me to call customer service and have them send me a new phone, which didn't help me in the short term.
Thanks to the finding of a rare pay phone, I made it to Matt's and we got to the show towards the end of Escape the Fate's set. I never had any interest in their music, as I heard that they played Motley Crew worship. They looked the part, but played generic emocore that had a lot of the sold out crowd singing along (they had one ticket left by the time we got there), but didn't impress me in the slightest.
It seemed like it took forever for Silverstein to take the stage, and there was really no reason for it, as everything was already set up. They barely did a sound check, but they did bring out four step stools for everyone but the drummer, which I found odd. Once they finally took the stage, to overhead music so powerful and outlandish that it sounded like Jesus and his Apostles were going to take the stage, they owned. The crowd was singing along to everything, including a new song (more on that in a second), and everyone seemed to be having a good time.
Silverstein played a good mix of songs from their three albums, opening up with my favorite, "Defend You." They also played a new song, which was mid paced, singy, punky and really catchy. The crowd figured out the sing along parts and had it down towards the end of the song. It was a solid track, and I'm hoping for more of the same from their upcoming album, which they said they were going to start recording once the tour was over.
Escape the Fate and Silverstein both had a good sound going for them from the sound speakers. Because of this, I was baffled that Chiodos sounded muddy and almost unprofessional. The guitars were so loud that they drowned out everything but the drums, and Craig Owens' vocals were barely audible. For a fan of the band, like myself, this was almost tolerable, as I knew the songs, but for Matt and Cynthia (or someone there checking them out for the first time), they didn't know what to make of them. It was hard to hear the songs as a whole, and the seizure inducing lightshow didn't help much. They played well, but they were the victims of shoddy sound, which I thought wasn't supposed to happen to the headlining bands.
Written by: RF
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