Show Review

Pictures

Alright, let me set the mood for a second. It was a Friday but it felt more like Thursday because I have just finished up my phone interview with Steve Pedulla of Thursday and was meeting up with some friends to head down to Providence, RI to see the band play on the Shirts For A Cure Tour. There also warrants a necessary mention of the purpose of the Shirts For A Cure organization. It was developed by Mark Beemer and works with bands to come up with t-shirts designs that are only sold through Shirts For A Cure. The money collected from the sale of these shirts helps to “provide financial assistance to underprivileged women who cannot afford expensive breast cancer medicine and therapy” (taken from the website, http://www.shirtsforacure.com). This is amazing as we all know that hospital bills can be gigantic and no one can really plan for unexpected things such as cancer. Their shirts sell for $15 with about 90 different designs at this point and can be purchases online or at different tour stops the organization makes.

On with the show, unfortunately we missed the opening act We.re All Broken. I was interested in hearing their sound after talking to Steve but due to circumstances out of my control (my friend Francesca’s love of French fries) we ended up a little late. We arrived just after Mewithoutyou began and I could hear their distinctive sound before I even got through the door. Only recently getting into their music, I didn’t know the majority of the songs they played but wasn’t disappointed by the stage presence they put forth. Singer Aaron Weiss is very eclectic and was all over the place singing and dancing. At one point he had his sweatshirt lifted and pulled over his head for about half a song which gave off a timid, scared look that was amusing. The crowd was very quiet, possibly those that never heard of or gave Mewithoutyou a chance were stunned by what was going on in front of them. On their final song of the night, Aaron pulled out an old (this thing was ancient looking) accordion to play, but I don’t think the mic was turned up loud enough for it as you could barely make it out. Minus the Bear took the stage next and I have never heard of anything these guys have done (one of those cases where you have heard of a band, but never heard the band). Apparently the same was true for most of the crowd as again, everyone seemed really passive. Sounding fairly good, MTB had a very relaxing vibe to them. They didn’t blow me away but my friends were all fans and seemed to enjoy the set.

So as people are chit-chatting between sets, the lights go down. Finally some life to the crowd, but that was an understatement. It’s obviously that Thursday’s fans have missed them and were ready to destroy anything just to get closer to the stage. I’ve been a huge fan of the band since Full Collapse yet had somehow never seen a full live set. The one time I tried to see them play with Saves The Day years ago, Geoff had problems with his voice and they had to stop playing after a few songs. The stage was set with a few small backdrops that made up the silhouette of the main character from the “5 4 3 2 1 Counting” video. Cue the music and the chaos. Plenty of new songs were played including the single “5 4 3 2 1 Counting,” “The Lovesong Writer,” “The Other Side of the Crash,” and “At This Velocity.” Geoff opened up the latter by claiming that the song was written after they had an “Almost Famous” disaster, thinking they were going to crash in an airplane with The Mars Volta and knowing they didn’t want to go out that way with those guys. As expected, the old favorites showed their face as well like “Paris In Flames,” “Signals Over The Airwaves,” and “Cross Out The Eyes.” While you could tell people were still trying to get used to the new stuff, the place went absolutely nuts for the older stuff. About halfway through the set Geoff was swinging the mic around his head, inches away from the crowd and he was jumping into the crowd to join in on the sing-a-longs. To end it all there was a three song encore that consisted of “Jet Black New Year” (complete with a confetti explosion at the end), “Sugar In The Sacrament,” and lastly “Autobiography Of A Nation.” This is a tour I would strongly suggest not missing if you still have the chance to catch it in your city. Thursday puts on an incredible live act and the other bands deserve your attention just as much.

review by Kevin St. Laurent