Show Review

As I sauntered up to the ticket booth just outside of The Basement in Columbus, I stood behind two girls who were shivering in the high 40s May weather. They got the front of the line and said, “We need two tickets for the Hit the Lights show tonight.”
“I am sorry, they are sold out,” the man behind the counter said with a frown. I smiled to myself because, thanks to the great people in the Cartel camp, my tickets were up in the Will Call box for me. But I was still perplexed. It blew me away that such a small show would sell out. The Columbus stop was right in the middle of the “Can’t Knock the Hustle” Tour featuring The Summer Obsession, Permanent Me, Hit the Light and Cartel. The buzz around Cartel and the amounting buzz around Hit the Lights appeared to have become something very real to me and not just kids talking on message boards. And I was excited.

Kicking off the show was the Summer Obsession. Honestly, the set was a great big pile of meh. It seemed as though they took the worst parts of New Found Glory, Simple Plan, and Good Charlotte and made it, somehow, more annoying. The music was passable for a legit band but the vocals were simply unbearable. But it was about halfway through the set that I realized that the drummer in the Summer Obsession is the former drummer from Good Charlotte. (The bald guy?) Eh. Even a C- list rock star was not enough to keep me interested in these guys.

Next up was the powerful and surprisingly good Permanent Me. Endearing melodies and solid guitaring characterized a great set from these New Yorkers and aside from a small stage diving incident, the band was pretty impressive. They focused on material that is on their recently released EP “Dear Virginia” through I Surrender Records and admitted to being rather new to the whole touring thing. The guys told the crowd it was their first real tour ever and I actually found that rather hard to believe. The guys blew through about 6 or so tracks seamlessly and were done before I really had a chance to find anything I strongly disliked. If you didn’t get the chance to stream the EP on EmotionalPunk, do yourself a favor and buy it. You won’t be disappointed.

As the next band came on and started setting up their equipment, most of the crowd pushed closer to the stage in order to be a just a little nearer to the action. Cartel, the up and coming pop punk act from Atlanta, were on the verge of being pushed into stardom, and as soon as the guitar part for the opener, “Luckie St.,” could be heard, the place erupted in a fury of pushing, shoving and screaming. Vocalist, Will Pugh, prefaced the set by making sure that everyone took care of each other in the pit area. “The room is kind of small and the ceiling is really low. We just don’t want anyone getting hurt.” Pugh said. That did not prevent an endless stream of crowd surfers from having their fun. The five piece blew through tracks from both “The Ransom” and “Chroma,” released through The Militia Group. I had seen the band for the first time back in February opening for the Starting Line and was blown away. Tonight was even better. Pugh’s vocals were immaculate throughout the whole set and he commanded the crowd like a professional. He even looked through the door to a crowd of about 15 kids standing outside and asked the club owner if he could let them in too. “I don’t know the number of the fire marshal, don’t worry,” Pugh joked. But music itself was stellar. The guitars sounded a good as they could through horribly mixed sound and bassist Ryan Roberts is hands down one of the best bassists I have had the pleasure of seeing live. The guys played all the hits, including “Say Anything (Else),” “Honestly,” and “Matter of Time.” But one of the highlights was hearing one of the obvious crowd favorites, “Minstrel’s Prayer.” Pugh’s guitaring and vocals were put on display along with Kevin Sander’s drumming and it came off very well. Aside from the questionable closing of “Q” and “A” Cartel seem poised for bigger and better things. If you get the chance to see these guys in an intimate setting, you need to lock that down.

The headliner’s that night were Lima, Ohio’s Hit the Lights. I actually left the venue during their set to talk to Will from Cartel. So, unfortunately, I was not able to watch much of it. I will most likely catch them the next time around.

This tour seemed to be showcasing the best and brightest of pop-punk’s future. And with the two headlining acts tonight opening up for New Found Glory and The Early November on their upcoming fall tour, it is only a matter of time.

review by Alex Drumm