Everybody's Talking: Neon Trees at Taste of Chicago (Grant Park)

Grant Park: (3/6) With it’s stellar view of Lake Michigan and  the majestic Buckingham Fountain adoring it, Grant park is beautiful. However, it makes terrible festival grounds. Grant Park has some of the worst traffic flow I've ever seen. There are no paths and the grounds sprawl over multi-block section of Columbus Drive. The Park’s propensity toward attracting multi-stage events make for a nigh impossible to navigate mess.

The Petrillo Music Shell Pavilion(The Stage):  (4/6The sound was surprisingly good for an outdoor stage, I was impressed. It loses points for being in direct sunlight to the point of making it hard to see the stage.

Neon Trees(4/6):

What continues to impress me about this little band is how far they've come. The first time I saw them live I completely wrote them off, they had a terrible live show. Every show of theirs I’ve seen has been better than the last. They've also become a much more cohesive band with a smoother dynamic.

Vocalist, Tyler Glenn is beyond energetic with a style reminiscent of both Freddie Mercury and Billy Idol. Loud in both personality and style Glenn is boldly himself. He has learned to harness and control the chaotic energy that radiates from him. Glenn has also learned to really work with his drummer Elaine Bradley

Bradley is a great drummer and her work coupled with Branden Campbell’s wonderful slap bass, give Glenn’s tenor vocals a wonderful backbone that really makes the music come to life.

Overall, I'm very impressed with Neon Trees’ progress as a band; I cannot wait to see what they do next.

Riot Fest Day 1: Offspring with Neon Trees at the Congress Theater “Come Out and Play.”

Venue: (3/6) The Congress is an elderly relic of a time gone by, and looks/sounds it. It’s obvious that the ceilings and walls used to be ornately decorated, but the molding and paint have faded and chipped, lending a simultaneously run down and endearingly worn feeling to the atmosphere. It used to be a theater, so the sloped floor lends both access to airflow and a better vantage point for those of us who are of shorter stature. The sound system has the problem all older speakers have—the distorted bass and weak middle range. Fortunately, I was at a post-punk show and the distortion wasn’t as detrimental... well, at least not to the main act.

Neon Trees: (4/6) One part Billy Idol, one part Freddie Mercury front man, Tyler Glenn took the stage with a brash attitude true to punk. Glenn didn’t care if his band was headlining or opening, he was going to play his set and get the audience involved. While the ever-true anger at the little things that get under one’s skin often brings out the sympathy in anyone, I found that they didn’t quite connect with the people who weren’t familiar with their work; if you were a fan it was fun, but otherwise, the energy wasn’t quite there.

Glenn was also far and away the most talented of his band and the most iconic. The guitar work was just a hair inharmonious and the drum work was flat out off.

Overall, I had a great time with them. They aren’t there yet, and I don’t think they mind that fact.

The Offspring (5/6): It was an honor to listen to a band that is one of the fathers of post-punk. The Offspring formed right smack in the middle of the punk movement and managed to adhere to that feel in a time when punk in the truest sense was dying. Their influence on my generation’s music is near unparalleled. Echoes of their sound ring throughout the alterative rock and post punk movements.

After twenty-six years they still have it.

While The Offspring are far from their peak, they are also far from finished. Moreover, they understand who they are playing for. While there were a few songs off of their newest album, the majority of their set was their older stuff. I will admit that nostalgia made the show even better. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of skill involved. In particular, I was impressed with the guitar work. If you’re reading this, I’m sure you are familiar with the old running jokes about talent (or lack thereof) involved in punk music. This could not be further from the truth in the case of The Offspring. I am used to allowing for a degree of noise work in punk, which made the clarity and deliberateness in the guitar work all the more remarkable.

All told it was a wonderful show, and I would happily see them again. 

My Chemical Romance with Neon Trees and the Architects.

Venue: See previous night’s review of the Aragon. It’s a good venue but desperately needs a few well-placed fans. The sound was better last night.

First Opener: The Architects (NR): Previously I’d seen both Neon Trees and The Architects and they weren’t that good. So I was at the merch booth for most of the set. However, when I went back inside I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of what I heard. They’re still basically 80’s revival (and say as much on their site) but the quality of sound improved dramatically

Second Opener: Neon Trees (4/6): Wow. I was blown away by how much this band has improved. I had to go back in the blog to make sure it was the same band. They went from being one of the worst live shows I’ve seen to being a solid show. Frontman Tyler Glenn both engaged the crowd and fellow band mate while singing surprisingly clearly. Neon Trees had solid sound and recognizable lyrics (I knew Animal from the radio). They are catchy enough to be contagious, but not a manufactured sound. Very good radio potential. Their sound was pop punk and fit the show very well. Too often I see bands that are decent but just don’t fit the sound of the evening. These people had the right feel and sound and were decently talented.


Main Act: My Chemical Romance (5/6): I’d heard that My Chemical Romance didn’t put on the best show live, so, I had my hopes set very low. I loved it. I think the people who didn’t like them live were expecting the wrong thing. My Chemical Romance is punk pop, not rock or mainstream pop. They are not a technical band, however, technical finesse is not something that pop punk is really known for. Punk, and particularly pop punk are meant to have scratchy vocals, rough guitar work and a lot of energy with good lyrics.
Is front man Gerard Way’s voice good? Not especially. But energy and lyrics Way has in spades. His dynamic with is his fans are wonderful and he is incredibly gracious. He is also very humble for someone who’s been performing to large audiences for the better part of 10 years.

My Chemical Romance has surprising depth and breadth of song style. Most pop-punk bands are one trick pony, with only the odd slower number. My Chemical Romance has a balance of slower numbers and traditional thrashy punk songs. They have an underlying energy that makes their sound sing and touch people. Particularly live I noticed “Cancer” was heart wrenching and hearing 
“I’m Not Okay (I Promise)” (the song that put My Chemical Romance on the map) live was a real treat.

I would go back to see them in a heartbeat. And I encourage others to do so as well, but don’t go expecting clear articulation or precision. Go expecting raw energy and you won’t be disappointed.

30 Seconds to Mars with Mutemath and Neon Trees

Venue: The Aragon Ballroom (see previous review)(2.5/5) I was up on the balcony and got to observe the venue from a different angle, which solved some of the problems The Aragon has, namely ventilation and being able to see as a short person. I also had the unpleasant experience of being near their “coat check” which is a lie. Its a shady woman in the ladies room who just sticks your stuff under the counter and apparently also does not have change. She had wandered off with a twenty from the girl in front of me. I don’t know what became of that as my girlfriend and I took one look at each other and decided to get the fuck out of Dodge. Which meant I spend the show with the stuff I’d brought from the comic book convention I’d been to earlier. Luckily we were in the seated section.

The Crowd: (4/5) I had an interesting perspective on the massive crowd as I was removed from the bulk who were on the floor. They were an active bunch. Especially for 30 Seconds to Mars. As a member of the 30 seconds to mars “Echelon” I’ve been impressed by the fervor in that fan-base. They are intensely devoted and damn, are they loud. I got to see a visual representation of this pleasant fanaticism. When Front man Jared Leto said “take three steps forward,” the entire crowd not just shuffled, but surged forward. The crowd for that part of the show was just as wild and passionate as Leto.


On to the show.

Neon Trees (2/5): They had a song that said something to the effect of “take me back to 1985” and I agree that they should perhaps go back to 1985 and leave 2010 to people who aren’t stuck in the past. A decent sound musically, the front man was a touch whiney both in the vocals and the lyrics. Very much 80s revival music they sounded like a bad attempt at billy idol with a little bit of metro station’s perky beat.
Pleasantly, they are better recorded. Still a little 80s bubblegum without actually being 80s bubblegum for my taste.

Mutemath (2/5) Too many strobe lights with too little talent and too many laser sounds. The show had an odd division the first half was fair at best with way too many flashy lights. Toward the end of the set, they suddenly gained some talent and quite literally trashed the stage, throwing soundboards, guitars and drums everywhere. The front man even screwed up the mic. While they were a fun listen, this band was more show than substance.

30 Seconds to Mars (6/5)-- 30STM, as they are known in the fan community, is a powerhouse of, layered instrumentation, intense effects and a front man whose stage presence alone could leave many bands in the dust. On top of his incredibly powerful prescience and striking good looks, Leto has a voice like none other with incredible power, range and precision. He was deep in the crowd for parts of the show, playing both the main-stage and a smaller, jury rigged stage in the sound both. His graciousness came as a pleasant surprise. He was also very gracious to the fans, expounding on how much that night, and his fans meant to him and his band.
The band itself was precise and very professional. On top of their coordination, each member could stand on his own. However, there was no mistaking that this was Leto’s show, not for vanity or lack of talent on the band’s half, but for the simple fact that Leto is a force on stage.

I look forward to whatever 30 Seconds to Mars does next, this band is something to be reckoned with and if the evolution of their albums is any indicator, we have not seen one tenth what they are capable of.