Decaydance Fest @ the Hammersmith Apollo
If you care, you've probably read other (better) recaps, but whatevs.
Jo = harmyjo, duh.
Having seated tickets, I figured we'd waltz up just before doors and be seated in plenty of time for the first band. WRONG. Doors opened late and the line was, no kidding, the longest I've ever seen. Result: we missed most of Cobra Starship's set. :/ :/ :/ If anything exciting happened before 'It's Warmer In the Basement', I would rather you didn't tell me. :/
Regardless! CS are happy-making! I can recall a time when Ryland and Alex stood stock-still and tried to blend into the speakers, and they definitely seemed more relaxed on this occasion. William and Travis joining the band for 'SoaP (BI)' was value, as always. I'm not kidding, that song is my happy place. I love William in pop diva mode; I love that he's somehow never, ever in tune on this song. I love William and Gabe singing to each other. I love the sense of teasing and camaraderie between the three of them. Love love love. Missed Maja, though. ;__;
The Academy Is... were good, but not great, I'd say. That may have partly been the set-list, which I wasn't wild about: a lot from Santi and mainly my non-favourites from Almost Here. The gay was also mysteriously missing. (As Jo commented after Gym Class Heroes' set, GCH were gayer than TAI! this is not the way of things!) Many times, William wandered in the direction of Siska or Mike and I really thought there would be some kind of interaction, and yet it was always a bust. There was some nice action of Chiz playing his guitar whilst rutting against William, though. I approved of that. :D
Oh: William changed the 'LAX to O'Hare' lyrics to "the evening news on BBC", which... LOL, oh William. You are so weirdly earnest, I really don't know what to do with you.
Gym Class Heroes... again, god, I'm ragging on the setlists and I'm feeling that this writeup is a downer, but GCH were only good, not great. Patrick only came out for one verse of 'Cupid's Chokehold' and he didn't come out at all for 'Clothes Off!' -- I mean, I get that this gig must have been an organizational nightmare, but he was there, it would have been nice to have him sing his parts of the songs, y'know?
Anyway! Travis and Patrick were adorably touchy-feely. Travie was just adorable, period. I always forget how hot Eric-the-hot-bassist is, too, so that was a bonus. The highlight of the GCH set was Dirty and The Butcher coming out during 'Clothes Off!' and stripping down to their underwear. Pretty. fucking. awesome. Especially when The Butcher started dirty-dancing with DeJesus, and then humped a cymbal stand. FTW, etc.
Ah, Panic! At the Disco. Can I just clarify my position on Panique? I don't hate them, but they're so ridiculously overhyped. Snarky conversations between Jo and I:
*before*
Jo: :O "Oh no, Panic won't be able to have their dancers!"
Me: "How will they cope? They'll have to put on a real, organic rock show!" :O
*after*
Jo: "Wow, they were actually less terrible than I was expecting."
Me: "Huh. I was about to say how thoroughly mediocre I thought they were."
Jo: "Well, they played in tune. I was not expecting that."
Honestly, what I was struck by was how similar the set I saw on Wednesday was to the set they played when I saw them on Nintendo Fusion Tour almost two years ago. And... it wasn't an unenjoyable set, but it really wasn't any better. Their flaws were forgivable when they were a band starting out, I don't find them forgivable anymore. Brendon was like a bouncy little puppy, which got annoying after a while. Ryan and Jon didn't DO anything. (Blah blah blah technical difficulties. Whatever. I've seen bands successfully shake off worse technical difficulties.) Spencer is a pretty rad drummer, though. *Spencer love!*
I really do like Fever. I think it's a great album. But I don't think it suits live performance. It's so frenetic, it just got tiresome. I actually enjoyed the new stuff they played a lot more than the old stuff, and that was mainly, I think, because the songs were slower; it wasn't just Brendon reduced to gabbling out the words.
Everyone seems to be going crazy for the 'Camisado'/'Roxanne' mash-up. Dude, I just thought it was weird. :/
As I mentioned before, the best part of Panic!'s set was that the band suddenly got really cute and affectionate as they walked off stage. Brendon ruffled Spencer's hair, and Jon and Ryan did the dorkiest high five I have ever seen. Cute!
While I zoned out and tried not to collapse (dude, seriously, the concert was EPIC. possibly I was drunk, too. >_>) between sets, I watched side-stage a lot. The highlight was Mike Carden (it's pathetic how easily I recognized him, due to his hair, *facepalm*) having a lengthy conversation with Spencersmith. Whaaaat were they talking about? I still wanna know! (Apparently Mike's going to Magic Mountain with Panic, too. Since when are they all BFF? Mindblowing!) Jo also saw Ashlee talking to members of Cobra Starship and possibly Nick Scimeca, too. Ooooh. (Seriously: Nick Scimeca: everyone's best friend! he needs to write the new 'How To Win Friends And Get A Lot Of Work Despite Being A Mediocre Web Designer Influence People' book. I'd buy it.) However, watching side stage also meant seeing Dirty in various stages of nudity frequently. O__O
Random interlude before Fall Out Boy! Tom from Plain White T's played a lovely, acoustic version of 'Hey There Delilah' and everyone sang along. I am very jaded and I felt that he was just plugging their "new" single (seriously, how OLD is that song?? SO OLD!), but it was still nice.
If you know Fall Out Boy at all, you probably know that it's pot luck whether you get enthusiastic!smiley!Pete or depressed!acerbic!Pete. He was definitely the latter on Wednesday. Which... actually is kind of okay! He made bitchy comments about David Beckham. I can always stand to hear bitchy comments about David Beckham! \o/ However: Pete spent a LOT of time leaning his head against Patrick's shoulder. It didn't seem romantic or even affectionate to me; it just seemed like he was weary and he wanted his best friend. Made me kind of uncomfortable. :x
FOB played a weird set, I thought. They played the singles, plus some oddments. I mean, 'I Slept With Someone...'? Was anyone really desperate to hear that? o__O I was glad to hear 'One and Only', though.
The highlight was Patrick's almost-acoustic cover of Akon/R. Kelly. Sometimes I forget how stunningly good his voice is. (By the way, the quality of this compared to every other song, I think this backs up my opinion that when FOB play live, the guitars are just TOO LOUD [too... something, anyway] against Patrick's voice most of the time, so he gets drowned out.) As Pete commented, "I think they do want to see us together, Patrick." Oh, Pete. (I honestly wonder whether it's possible to be a FOB fan and not slash them. It seems improbable, especially when Pete is so aware of how the audience will react to comments like this.)
Travis and Gabe came out (individually) for the first couple of songs of FOB's set. My theory: they came out early so that they could go ahead and get fucked up backstage. Gabe and Patrick did this totally cute little dance as Gabe walked backwards offstage. William came out for 'Sophomore Slump', as expected. As he walked offstage, he cupped Pete's chin in his hand. It was cute, but as Jo said, made Pete look about 12. Dude! He's five years older than you! Pete/William. I still 'ship it. :( Where is the fic?
They ended with 'Saturday' and Siska played bass while Pete went out into the audience.
Jo = harmyjo, duh.
Having seated tickets, I figured we'd waltz up just before doors and be seated in plenty of time for the first band. WRONG. Doors opened late and the line was, no kidding, the longest I've ever seen. Result: we missed most of Cobra Starship's set. :/ :/ :/ If anything exciting happened before 'It's Warmer In the Basement', I would rather you didn't tell me. :/
Regardless! CS are happy-making! I can recall a time when Ryland and Alex stood stock-still and tried to blend into the speakers, and they definitely seemed more relaxed on this occasion. William and Travis joining the band for 'SoaP (BI)' was value, as always. I'm not kidding, that song is my happy place. I love William in pop diva mode; I love that he's somehow never, ever in tune on this song. I love William and Gabe singing to each other. I love the sense of teasing and camaraderie between the three of them. Love love love. Missed Maja, though. ;__;
The Academy Is... were good, but not great, I'd say. That may have partly been the set-list, which I wasn't wild about: a lot from Santi and mainly my non-favourites from Almost Here. The gay was also mysteriously missing. (As Jo commented after Gym Class Heroes' set, GCH were gayer than TAI! this is not the way of things!) Many times, William wandered in the direction of Siska or Mike and I really thought there would be some kind of interaction, and yet it was always a bust. There was some nice action of Chiz playing his guitar whilst rutting against William, though. I approved of that. :D
Oh: William changed the 'LAX to O'Hare' lyrics to "the evening news on BBC", which... LOL, oh William. You are so weirdly earnest, I really don't know what to do with you.
Gym Class Heroes... again, god, I'm ragging on the setlists and I'm feeling that this writeup is a downer, but GCH were only good, not great. Patrick only came out for one verse of 'Cupid's Chokehold' and he didn't come out at all for 'Clothes Off!' -- I mean, I get that this gig must have been an organizational nightmare, but he was there, it would have been nice to have him sing his parts of the songs, y'know?
Anyway! Travis and Patrick were adorably touchy-feely. Travie was just adorable, period. I always forget how hot Eric-the-hot-bassist is, too, so that was a bonus. The highlight of the GCH set was Dirty and The Butcher coming out during 'Clothes Off!' and stripping down to their underwear. Pretty. fucking. awesome. Especially when The Butcher started dirty-dancing with DeJesus, and then humped a cymbal stand. FTW, etc.
Ah, Panic! At the Disco. Can I just clarify my position on Panique? I don't hate them, but they're so ridiculously overhyped. Snarky conversations between Jo and I:
*before*
Jo: :O "Oh no, Panic won't be able to have their dancers!"
Me: "How will they cope? They'll have to put on a real, organic rock show!" :O
*after*
Jo: "Wow, they were actually less terrible than I was expecting."
Me: "Huh. I was about to say how thoroughly mediocre I thought they were."
Jo: "Well, they played in tune. I was not expecting that."
Honestly, what I was struck by was how similar the set I saw on Wednesday was to the set they played when I saw them on Nintendo Fusion Tour almost two years ago. And... it wasn't an unenjoyable set, but it really wasn't any better. Their flaws were forgivable when they were a band starting out, I don't find them forgivable anymore. Brendon was like a bouncy little puppy, which got annoying after a while. Ryan and Jon didn't DO anything. (Blah blah blah technical difficulties. Whatever. I've seen bands successfully shake off worse technical difficulties.) Spencer is a pretty rad drummer, though. *Spencer love!*
I really do like Fever. I think it's a great album. But I don't think it suits live performance. It's so frenetic, it just got tiresome. I actually enjoyed the new stuff they played a lot more than the old stuff, and that was mainly, I think, because the songs were slower; it wasn't just Brendon reduced to gabbling out the words.
Everyone seems to be going crazy for the 'Camisado'/'Roxanne' mash-up. Dude, I just thought it was weird. :/
As I mentioned before, the best part of Panic!'s set was that the band suddenly got really cute and affectionate as they walked off stage. Brendon ruffled Spencer's hair, and Jon and Ryan did the dorkiest high five I have ever seen. Cute!
While I zoned out and tried not to collapse (dude, seriously, the concert was EPIC. possibly I was drunk, too. >_>) between sets, I watched side-stage a lot. The highlight was Mike Carden (it's pathetic how easily I recognized him, due to his hair, *facepalm*) having a lengthy conversation with Spencersmith. Whaaaat were they talking about? I still wanna know! (Apparently Mike's going to Magic Mountain with Panic, too. Since when are they all BFF? Mindblowing!) Jo also saw Ashlee talking to members of Cobra Starship and possibly Nick Scimeca, too. Ooooh. (Seriously: Nick Scimeca: everyone's best friend! he needs to write the new 'How To Win Friends And Get A Lot Of Work Despite Being A Mediocre Web Designer Influence People' book. I'd buy it.) However, watching side stage also meant seeing Dirty in various stages of nudity frequently. O__O
Random interlude before Fall Out Boy! Tom from Plain White T's played a lovely, acoustic version of 'Hey There Delilah' and everyone sang along. I am very jaded and I felt that he was just plugging their "new" single (seriously, how OLD is that song?? SO OLD!), but it was still nice.
If you know Fall Out Boy at all, you probably know that it's pot luck whether you get enthusiastic!smiley!Pete or depressed!acerbic!Pete. He was definitely the latter on Wednesday. Which... actually is kind of okay! He made bitchy comments about David Beckham. I can always stand to hear bitchy comments about David Beckham! \o/ However: Pete spent a LOT of time leaning his head against Patrick's shoulder. It didn't seem romantic or even affectionate to me; it just seemed like he was weary and he wanted his best friend. Made me kind of uncomfortable. :x
FOB played a weird set, I thought. They played the singles, plus some oddments. I mean, 'I Slept With Someone...'? Was anyone really desperate to hear that? o__O I was glad to hear 'One and Only', though.
The highlight was Patrick's almost-acoustic cover of Akon/R. Kelly. Sometimes I forget how stunningly good his voice is. (By the way, the quality of this compared to every other song, I think this backs up my opinion that when FOB play live, the guitars are just TOO LOUD [too... something, anyway] against Patrick's voice most of the time, so he gets drowned out.) As Pete commented, "I think they do want to see us together, Patrick." Oh, Pete. (I honestly wonder whether it's possible to be a FOB fan and not slash them. It seems improbable, especially when Pete is so aware of how the audience will react to comments like this.)
Travis and Gabe came out (individually) for the first couple of songs of FOB's set. My theory: they came out early so that they could go ahead and get fucked up backstage. Gabe and Patrick did this totally cute little dance as Gabe walked backwards offstage. William came out for 'Sophomore Slump', as expected. As he walked offstage, he cupped Pete's chin in his hand. It was cute, but as Jo said, made Pete look about 12. Dude! He's five years older than you! Pete/William. I still 'ship it. :( Where is the fic?
They ended with 'Saturday' and Siska played bass while Pete went out into the audience.