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Motion City Soundtrack, Sherwood, the Higher, the Forecast; July 10th @ the Roxy, Hollywood
The summer of 2007 was filled with some pretty major arena tours, so it was refreshing to see Minnesota's own pop-punk superheroes, Motion City Soundtrack, treat their fans to a good old fashioned club tour. MCS played at the Roxy on July 10th with Sherwood, The Higher, and the Forecast.
Despite the clever name, Illinois natives "The Forecast", failed to play a memorable show. Their catchy pop-punk songs sounded repetitive and typical. Lead singer and bassist, Shannon Burns, has a loud and high-pitched voice that was drowned out by the sound system. Though the set was entertaining, and the band definitely sounds better on their recordings. I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt that their band is actually pretty good, and the boring set could be blamed on the bad acoustics of the Roxy.
The Higher came on second, and throughout the entire set made desperate attempts to awaken the seemingly dead crowd. Not a single hipster was so much as tapping her ballet flats. The Higher has a unique R&B/ pop-rock sound that was very much underappreciated by the MCS fans. Lead singer Seth and guitarist Tom tried their hardest to get the kids going, even covering Akon, and R.Kelly's famed Ignition Remix. When the band played their catchy and energetic Vegas-inspired single "Insurance?" a few kids mouthed the words, but for the most part the club remained still while the 5 frustrated Vegas boys rolled their eyes and made a final futile attempt to win over the crowd. I was able to talk to Tom after the show who told me in a very matter-of-fact tone "we sucked tonight, no one moved", I assured him that they played a great set; they just were up against a tough crowd, a really tough crowd.
Next to play was Sherwood, the almost entirely blonde pop-punk / indie band from San Luis Obispo. The set initially lacked energy, but the crowd seemed to get into it after awhile, which inspired the band to rock a little harder. Mike Leibovich, the flying keyboardist (who must have been taking lessons from Jesse of MCS), certainly kept things interesting. They played a solid set, and I was pleasantly surprised to see the aforementioned hipsters singing along to "A Song in My Head", from Sherwood's newest album "A Different Light".
Finally Motion City Soundtrack took the stage, opening with their pop-punk anthem "Everything is Alright", almost instantaneously the crowd started jumping up and down, pumping their fists, and singing along. Despite the fact that the show was originally supposed to be the record release show, no one seemed to be disappointed. Not a single person stood still during any part of the set (which was surprising considering the lifelessness the crowd maintained for the other bands). One of the highlights of the night occurred when Justin introduced the song "L.G. FUAD" by saying "to go along with this very sad evening, we're now going to play a sad song" and sang the first line "let's get fucked up and die" and gave a big smile and two thumbs up to the audience. MCS played a brilliantly energetic set, playing songs from the first two albums (I am the Movie, and Commit this to Memory), and even gracing the crowd with a few songs from their as of yet unreleased third album "Even if it Kills Me" (out in September). Justin Pierre (vox, guitar) even joked around with the audience about such things as his former school days in between songs. The band really made everyone grateful for the show, and even played two encores including "Better Open the Door". It was great to see a band of Motion City Soundtrack's fame play such a small show for a group of such dedicated fans. So even if Motion City Soundtrack moves on to play big giant arena tours, at least the kids of the boom box generation will always have the absolutely incredible and intimate show at the Roxy to remember.