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Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Show Review - Hellogoodbye Headlining Tour 2/7/11

I was able to go to the Vienna, Virginia show of Hellogoodbye's headlining tour with support from Gold Motel, Now, Now, and You, Me, And Everyone We Know. At a venue that holds no more than 200 people, there was no doubt that I desperately needed to go to this show. Along with the two interviews I conducted with You, Me, And Everyone We Know and Hellogoodbye, the show was an absolute blast. Every band was great in their own way, and the show was definitely one of the best I've been at.



Now, Now opened the show extremely strong. Although I didn't know much of the band, I enjoyed the music I had previously heard of them. However, they blew me away from the first song. Lead singer Cacie Dalager showed off her incredible vocal talent, showing that it doesn't take a powerful voice to blast emotion into everyone listening. Her planned vocal stutters were engineered to perfection, as you could feel the emotional lyrics bursting out of her lips. They played two new songs, including one where crowd participation was key, with a big handclap part. The band all agreed that the crowd was one of the best they ever had, and they definitely followed through with their performance.

After the superb performance ended, I finally got to see the band whom I had been dying to see for quite some time now. You, Me, And Everyone We Know lived up to my expectations in their performance, even if the set didn't. Opening with the title track of their excellent album Some Things Don't Wash Out, vocalist Ben Liebsch was just a raging ball of energy. His vocals were spot on throughout the entire set, adding in some yells that fully encompassed the energy in the room. "A Symptom" was a surprise song in the set, but although it is one of the slowest songs by the band, it didn't interrupt the flow of the set. "Shock And Awe" was a highlight, as both the band's and the crowd's energy was at its peak. After closing the short seven song set with "Colorful Language", the crowd was definitely itching for more.

Gold Motel was a band that I was not too familiar with, other than the fact that the lead singer, Greta Salpeter, used to sing for Fueled By Ramen band The Hush Sound. As I expected from her reputation, her vocals were spot on; however, I was captivated by the musical skills of her surrounding bandmates. The guitarist had some of the quickest hands I have seen in a live show, and the drummer was consistently impressive with his various techniques. The music, though not entirely my thing, was still great, as the band made it feel like summer on a cold, 30 degree night. 

The headliner, Hellogoodbye, was the band I was most curious about their live performance. From their drastic change in sound to the comments that lead singer Forrest Kline stated in the interview earlier that night, I really wanted to see the way the band performed live. By the end of the first song, I was impressed. The band performed pretty much their entire new album, Would It Kill You, excellently. "Finding Something To Do", "You Sleep Alone", and "When We First Met" were just a few of the songs where the band showed off their talents. Forrest was quite a comic when the band wasn't performing, making jokes about technology and the internet, You, Me, And Everyone We Know, and the band themselves. The curious thing was that the crowd did not seem to enjoy the easily stronger new songs, and much preferred the older music. However, the band didn't even seem into the songs that much. The band encored with two older songs, which was disappointing to me. However, the set as a whole was quite enjoyable, and was definitely a great close to an awesome night. If you have the opportunity to see this tour, do so. Although You, Me, And Everyone We Know goes off the tour soon, Jukebox The Ghost is a more than capable replacement for them. All five of the bands are very talented, and the tour together is a great start to what should be an excellent musical year.

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