Show Review

This was one of the first shows in The Ataris' support of their new album, So Long, Astoria. The show had a lineup that was solid, even despite the fact that I had encountered three of the four artists on at least one occassion. I was pretty excited to see The Ataris, and how they'd perform on the new songs, and The Juliana Theory was a band who I've been listening to for awhile but never seen live before.

Needless to say, Yellowcard once again ruled. Their endless amounts of charisma, stage energy, and happy vibes kept the crowd super into it. Everyone was constantly singing along in every song, and the new song they played sounded simply magnificent. I think somehow Yellowcard always seems to time their shows perfectly; right as you're getting used to their music they come rolling through, and not too often so you don't get bored of their act. Again the new song, which exhibited a certain amount of dark undertones and a maturing band from the days of One For The Kids and even The Underdog EP, their latest rendition, was excellent. They played a combination of songs from both records and one new one and were solid as hell.

Further Seems Forever impressed me at their last show here, and once again displayed a similar sort of energy and emotion. Although the guitars tended to be quieter than they should've been, their melodic composition and emotion stricken music rang clear. Most everyone seemed to be having a good time, but there was much less of the crowd singing along apparent for the most part. Nonetheless, the new singer presented himself in a very appropriate manner and had a great amount of energy, putting on a good show.

Next was The Juliana Theory, a band I had never witnessed live but heard a lot about beforehand. Instantly the singer began rocking out with a guitar (making a total of three guitars) and making a lot of noise..perhaps too much noise. His vocals were often overpowered by the weight of the three guitars, and when he put the guitar down his mid-range vocals couldn't carry over the loudness of the remaining guitars. Nonetheless, the guitarists were excellent, and seemed to really know what they were doing, especially in Trance's complex, U2-esque delay guitar effects. I was suprised they didn't perform This Is The End Of Your Life, the heavy opener of their last EP, because I find it to be one of their most powerful songs. In fact, they didn't seem to show priority to playing from their new album, Love. They spread their set across all 4 of their releases, and most seemed to really enjoy their act. Even with the drained out vocals, the singer's "rockstar" attitude seemed to at least invirogate the crowd, and the other musicians seemed to have equally compelling energy.

The Ataris finally came on stage, sporting a huge banner for So Long, Astoria (it was a printout of the CD cover). After the lights dimmed and reshone, I.O.U. One Galaxy blasted with the crowd's overwhelming support. Years of experience proved the band has honed their abilities incredibly. Next I Won't Spend Another Night Alone carressed the crowd, and the thing about the Ataris is that all their songs have become anthems to us kids, and you can tell. Roe was on-target with the new songs, and played Takeoffs and Landings, In This Diary, Unopened Letter To The World, and in a crowd-pleasing encore did The Saddest Song alone. Perhaps the highlight of the set, in my mind, however was the band's insane performance by request of the song Between You and Me. One of the band's first recorded songs, it sounded killer and is still one of their best tunes. Of course the band played Summer Wind Was Always Our Song and closed with San Dimas High School Football Rules, debatably their most popular tune. They invited a kid from the crowd to play along with San Dimas, which simply epitomizes the band's love for their fans. The Ataris have always been an admirable band in my eyes, and even with their signing to Columbia Records, the band hasn't lost even a percent of their integrity and original concept of playing music and giving back what they can to their fans.

review by Andrew Martin