Given that Motion City Soundtrack and Say Anything found popularity around the same time in the mid-2000s, I really shouldn’t be that surprised that these two teamed up for a co-headlining tour, but I was! It was a pleasant surprise!
This concert also marks itself as the first of the year for me! I should have seen Don Broco in Dallas a few weeks ago, but the weather had vastly different plans. So sadly I had to wait until the beginning of February to get one on the books. But these two bands definitely make it a good one. The show was packed, as I expected. My millenial emos know how to show up. A large majority of the crowd was pretty amped for the opening act, Sincere Engineer, who I’ve only ever heard of by name. I kind of mean this as a compliment and maybe a bit of an insult, but the lead singer is just the gender flipped version of Max Bemis. Take it how you want, but the set wasn’t really for me. There wasn’t that much variety in the songs they played.
After they were through, I was curious who would be taking the stage next. I honestly have no clue if it’s been the same order the whole tour, but we were treated to a very long set by Motion City Soundtrack next! Firstly, they sounded unbelievable! They are truly talented band of unique weirdos, and I love them for that. They blasted through 17 songs across their entire discography. I’m a little disappointed in myself for not checking out their new album aside from the single “She Is Afraid.” I liked it well enough, so I really should go listen to it. Anyway, they gave that album plenty of love on the setlist, and then they gave the crowd their favorite and biggest hits. You know people were belting out “L.G. Faud” opening lryics, along with “I’m on fire!” and I was right there with them! What impressed me most was how virtually no breaks were taken in between songs. Maybe I’m getting used to the flow of K-pop concerts these days. Still, impressive!
To end the show, Say Anything played one of the most long and boring sets of my life. I suppose I’ve never been the biggest fan of this band, save for a few different songs. They only played two of those, and since they are actually popular they were saved for the end. That means I had to endure 13 other painfully slow songs sung with Bemis’ off-key wail. That works for some songs, but otherwise it doesn’t work for me. “Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too” was worth the wait, at least. I’ve decided that I’m okay not seeing them again for a good while.
All in all though, I was really happy to be back in the throes of live music! This is just the beginning of an already relatively busy year, so stay tuned!