By Claudio Zelaya / Staff Writer
On June 17, I had the pleasure of attending a concert at Revolution Live for the band Say Anything with opening acts You Blew It!, The So So Glos, and The Front Bottoms. It was a packed house as the early show began with Orlando-natives, You Blew It!. I wouldn’t go as far as to say this was an exceptional performance; the crowd was unfortunately not into the first band up at the beginning.
The audience only got moving once they played the pop-like tune “Regional Dialect” which was very fast paced and gave everyone a reason to move. Unfortunately, the next song, “Strong Island”, was very slow, slowing the mood — the crowd just stood there once again. One thing is for sure and that is that through every song, the drummer with the amazing mustache looked like he was having the show of his life.
After a short set from You Blew It!, The So So Glos were up next to a semi-warmed up audience. I wasn’t very familiar with this band’s music, but I can testify that their bass player was one of the best I’ve seen in ages.
If there was one instrument that stuck out in this set, it was definitely the bass. Alex Levine had the charisma and skill that I wish every bass player had today. Short one member, The So So Glos were still able to put on an enjoyable set with help from Brian Seller of the next band up, The Front Bottoms.
For the first few minutes of The Front Bottoms set, I felt as if they were the headlining band as opposed to Say Anything. From the start of their set, you could barely hear Brian Seller sing as the fans were singing along even louder.
The fans moved to every side of the floor as the traditional mosh pits opened up. I won’t say I knew the names of every song, but they proved they could wake the audience up with a medley of groovy songs. The popular single, “Au Revoir,” sent the venue shaking as the perfect sing along went underway. The set ended with the members of You Blew It! joining them on stage which felt like the perfect way to end the last set of the night… if the night were to end that early.
After hours of jumping, getting pushed around, and some instances of just standing there, the headlining band, Say Anything, finally hit the stage. The crowd roared as soon as the lights started flashing and Say Anything jumped into their vast catalog of songs.
“Six Six Six” was one of the most enjoyable portions of the set that set the mood for a phenomenal closing act. Like every other act that night, Reed Murray, the drummer, was playing what seemed like the best show of his life. The pace rarely slowed down as Say Anything let it be known they were there to make everyone sweat. The mosh pit opened up once again to songs like “She Won’t Follow You” and “Do Better.” “Do Better” was one of the songs fighting for best song of the night until they played arguably the most recognizable tune in their arsenal, “Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too.” This turned everyone nuts as people were flying in the air, singing along, and just set the tone of the night to an all-time high.
After that, the band left the stage while the audience chanted for an encore. The band’s vocalist, Max Bemis came back out by himself to serenade everyone with a couple acoustic songs before being joined by his band. The night came to an end with another fast paced jam to send everyone home. The concert had some of the most exceptional musicians I’ve seen in a while.
-Claudio.Zelaya@fiusm.com
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