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Honda Civic Tour

2007's Honda Civic Tour proved to be one of the most elaborate and over the top tours this summer. Cobra Starship, the dance-rock band with a cult following, opened the show. Gabe Saporta (vox), never took himself too seriously and he jokes around with the predominantly hipster crowd, urging them to dance their faces off. Cobra's playful and energetic rock sound is complimented by lyrics about being in love like Biggie and Lil' Kim as well as tying lover's up in the basement. Gabe was sure to point out the ironically nerdy appearance of his guitarist, Ryland Blackington, saying "Ryland may look like a nerd, but he can sure shred like a motherf***er". An appearance by William Beckett of the Academy Is... for the song "Bring It" , made famous by the Snakes on a Plane movie, got the crowd screaming and throwing up their fang sign. Of course a Cobra Starship show would not be complete without Vicky-T and a key tar. They played like headliners, and their set, not surprisingly, won over the entire arena. Cobra is a one of a kind band that should be appreciated as much more than "that band from the Snakes on A Plane video", besides any band that can get hipsters to dance deserves at least some admiration.
Next to take the stage was the cute but annoying Paul Wall, and his sidekick Skinhead Rob, who looked more like a trucker than a rapper. Paul Wall stuck out like a sore thumb at the show and at most gave the majority of the crowd a chance to rest after Cobra Starship. I was able to "get into it" for the first few songs, but after awhile I was bored. Paul kept reminding the audience to buy his album "Get Money, Stay True", which was more than obnoxious to say the least. The main problem was that the show was mainly pop-punk bands who support things like gay rights and activism, while Paul Wall was a rapper who, from what I could gather, liked shiny things. I blame the creators of the tour, because, I'm sure Paul Wall is a good rapper, he just was put in a situation where he had no chance of being appreciated. The best part of the set occurred when Paul passed out grillz to the audience. This generosity; however, was not enough to make me a rap fan, and I was glad when it was over.
The Academy Is.. was next to play, and their set was flawless. William has amazing stage presence, and the band is simply very good at what they do. William interacted with the crowd, and even copied a dance move that he saw the kids at the barricade doing during "We've got a Big Mess on our Hands". He even told the kids to help him sing at one point, and if they didn't know the words he told everyone to "just make them up". In a scene full of pompous and arrogant lead-singers, William proves himself to be the exception to the rule, he's not only charismatic and charming, but also talented and passionate. Mike Carden, Adam Siska, Michael Chislett, and "the Butcher", make up the rest of The Academy Is..., and each one of the guys is an integral part of the powerhouse rock band that is The Academy Is... They could have easily played for another hour, and the mosh pits still would have been going. I was blown away by their performance, and after seeing them on HCT, I plan on going to every show I can during their "Sleeping with Giants" headlining tour in the fall.
Travis Barker and Mark Hoppus' new-ish pop-punk band (+44) played a great set of good pop-punk music. Unfortunately they just didn't connect with the crowd as much as they could have because no one seemed to be getting too into their music. Once they played the infamous Blink-182 song "Rock Show", the crowd went insane. I have never seen so many people start moshing so quickly. After "Rock Show", the crowd got back into it and Mark started joking around, showing off his mad bass skills to the pit by playing a single chord. He dedicated "Rock Show" to Craig, the shirtless guitarist. Mark demanded that Vicky-T sing back-up during the song "Make You Smile". (+44)'s music does sound a bit like Blink-182, but it definitely is more refined and mature, not better, just different. Hoppus hasn't lost his sense of humor, and Travis still melts the faces off of the audience with his insane drumming talent. I reccomend seeing (+44) at a smaller show, because they did seem to be a little bit drowned out in the giant arena.
Finally Fall Out Boy came on, after an uncomfortably long set change. The boys were launched on to the stage and came flying onto the massive steel platform. I was shocked by the giant projector screen showing images of anime and the band having their heads blown off. I hadn't realized how huge FOB had become until I saw all the pyro, and explosions, and projections, and special FX. It was all a little too much, and it took away from the music. Joe, Patrick, and Pete even changed clothes on stage in special (tacky) changing pods. I felt like I was back in the glam-rock period, only with even more excruciatingly unnecessary gimicks. Fall Out Boy is an amazing band, but their stage was too distracting, I almost forgot they were playing when I saw a Honda Civic hanging from the ceiling and fire shooting out behind Andy Hurley's drum platform. Next time the phrase "less is more" should be taken into account by the producers of the tour. The band did cover an Akon song, and Michael Jackson's "Beat It" which was very entertaining. The best parts of the night were Patrick playing "Golden" alone on stage, and Andy Hurley's drum solo. Joe Trohman worked the crowd the most, singing along with a bunch of us barricade kids, Patrick tended to stay center stage, while Pete hopped around all over the place. In the middle of the set Dirty came out and set up a pseudo batting cage and took a bunch of baseballs to the chest. It was an entertaining stunt, but again, unnecessary. For a rock show, it certainly seemed more like a carnival. FOB played a few of their older songs from "Take This to Your Grave", like "Saturday" and the FX, unlike the mosh pits, seemed to calm down during those songs. Everyone got crazy when they played Dance Dance, and Dirty came on stage to dance. At one point, Pete and Joe played on top of the Honda Civic. All in all it was a great show, though the set seemed short because of all the on stage distractions. It was certainly worth the price of the ticket for the incredible line-up, and the chance to see legends open for the "it-boys" of the rock scene. The Honda Civic Tour was big, and loud, even obnoxious at times, but I couldn't help but love every minute of it.