Show Review

Sunday night welcomed the Hellogoodbye tour to one of the biggest and most well known cities in the world- New York City. The tour stopped at Roseland Ballroom, an unusually big venue for the bands on the roster. Thoughts that floated minds were undoubtedly that these bands would get lost in such a huge venue, but unexpectedly the opposite happened. The place was packed with hundreds of teeny boppers jumping around waiting to hear who they came to support.

The Hush Sound hit the stage first and met all expectations. This is a band that has risen to the top extremely quick. They’ve been a band for only 2 years and have already attracted quite a crowd. They played a solid set including many of their catchy attracting songs such as “Don’t Wake Me Up,” and “Crawling Towards the Sun.” They played well and interacted with the crowd nicely as though they were in an intimate setting. The kids there to see them were more than pleased and the kids that were first time listeners grew a new respect for such an interesting band.

Next up was Boys Like Girls and the crowd was more than excited. The estrogen in the place rose to a new high as girls screamed when the band took the stage. As they sang fan favorites such as “The Great Escape” and “Dance Hall Drug,” the crowd clapped their hands in unison and shouted the lyrics back at them. They didn’t put on the visual show expected for a band with such a following. The stage seemed too big for the 4 piece band from Boston as they continued to run from one side to the other, standing on boxes to oversee the crowd. No one seemed to mind as the sound had decent quality and their playing abilities weren’t too shabby.

Everyone grew with anticipation as it took Hellogoodbye a good 45 minutes before they came out. As fans waited, the crew built a scene for the band on stage to mimic an open house party with everything from a beer pong table, a couch with cushions, fake walls, and red crushed party cups covering the floor. Skeptic minds prevailed as to being unsure what was about to come…but people knew of Hellogoodbye’s wacky past shows. Soon enough, a man came out to introduce them- what? Yes, you read right- introduce them. He yelled, “Is everyone excited for Hellogoodbye!” (Duh.) He went on to say, “Who wants to hear ‘Here In Your Arms!’” (All the kids that know you from the radio.) Then with the lights low, the band took the stage with the crowd wailing in excitement. They started up with an oldie but a goodie called “All Time Lows,” but before anyone could enjoy the nostalgia of old Hellogoodbye, a group of teenaged girls emerged on to the stage holding red plastic cups as to reenact a party. Everyone including myself was utterly confused. Instead of enjoying the fun poppy sound of the music, everyone was busy focusing on the horrible dance moves of these annoying teenaged girls. The band managed to play a few more oldies that the crowd enjoyed like “Shimmy Shimmy Quarter Turn” and a few new ones as well. Hellogoodbye has always been a band worth seeing for the pure fun of it, but this time was too much. The theatrics were unnecessary but the band is still way too enjoyable to let the whole show go up in flames. My advice to front man Forrest: bring back the bright orange booty chokers and leave the bad dancers on the tour bus and everyone will be happy.

review by Christina Reynier