|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Skate and Surf Fest 2004 This is the best concert festival of the year. Forget South by Southwest, forget Warped Tour, go to Skate and Surf. With 72 bands completing the roster, it is impossible to see them all. There are three indoor stages and two outdoor stages for your viewing pleasure. Inside is the Main, Arcade, and Paramount stages. Outdoors are the Ocean Ave. stage and the Boardwalk tent that was right on the coast with a perfect view of the ocean. In the following review (of the biggest and baddest rock n' roll showcase there is), I’ll give you the run down of who we saw, who we missed, and who you should look into. Friday was the first day of the festival and to be honest, the morning acts left something to be desired. We caught parts of both Piebald and From First to Last, but they weren’t all that great. The day did not really get kicking until about 6 p.m.. We opted to miss Hot Rod Circuit and check out Funeral For a Friend. They were sooooo awesome. From the first note until they said good-bye, the crowd was thrashing and jumping and singing along. This was a much anticipated act and they rocked to their heart’s content. After that, the day whizzed by. I’ll break it down for you by stage.
On Saturday, I feel like I missed more bands than I saw. Maybe not. There were three surprise performances on Saturday, but you will have to read “March your ass back in there...” (my corresponding article) to see what they were. Senses Fail was the first band I caught on the main stage. I really expected more from a Drive Thru band playing in their home state. They were mediocre. Nothing special, that is for sure. My Chemical Romance and Midtown also made appearances, however, we went to eat across the street and missed most of both of them. We did catch Story of the Year. I thought they were good, but there were a few things that bothered me. Like, the guitar player doing a guitar flip every four bars, which was soooo unnecessary. They were full of energy though and I really enjoyed them. On the Arcade stage, I only caught one band, but a damn good one. Moneen was one of the last bands to play the middle stage for the night and they were so awesome. They ended their show with friends from other bands singing along and then a tackle, and slamming of guitars. It was outstanding. I’m seeing main stage in their future for those boys.
Outside, we missed Halifax, but I heard that they rocked the hell out of the small stage they were on. We did catch The Working Title and they really impressed me. They have a touching live show. Most of their songs are so emotionally charged that you can’t help but fall in love. We made it a point to support the local boys and watch Lucky Boys
Early November played and announced that their drummer that quit was coming back to the band. I was wicked I say go to Skate and Surf. You never know who will play, who you will meet, or what will happen, and that is the best part. Next year is year five, so be there. To hear about the secret shows and all the fun stuff, check out “March your ass back in there...” my other Skate and Surf piece... XROXX Concert Rating: XXXXX (5 X's out of a possible 5 X's) Jayne*Star
Go Back. |
Error 404 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
On the main stage, we caught Andrew WK, which was less than awesome. He was a lot better last year. Coheed and Cambria was another one of the headliners and they were pretty good. They never cease to amaze me with the amount of energy that they have. I caught the last three songs of the Starting Line and I must say that the two new songs I heard, I totally loved!!! Their new CD drops in a few months and it’ll be amazing...And, I'll save the best for last. On the Arcade stage, we caught Motion City Soundtrack and they played to a huge crowd. We were not expecting a Midwest band to have such a crowd, but people were feeling it. Mae played and I only caught one song, but 
everyone said it was awesome. Jamison-Parker also played the Arcade stage. I love these boys. They played with a full band including the ex-Finch drummer, Alex Pappas. It was so amazing, I felt oober-emo though. Parker had on a suit jacket and black eyeliner while Jamison cut his hair and wore a red Ordinary Clothing track jacket. Had it not been emo, it would have been fashion core. I missed Sugarcult to check out Relient K, but Austin said it was rocking even though there were not that many people. On the smaller Paramount stage, we caught Relient K and they were pretty good. I don’t know most of their stuff, but they were fun to watch. I missed Kevin Devine on the Paramount, but I got to see him later. We missed Silverstein and Fear Before the March of Flames on the outdoor stages because they were not issuing reentry bracelets 'til after they played. Shitty!!! 
OK, and I saved the best for last. Brand New was the main stage headliner for the night. The lights went off and 6000 kids screamed in anticipation of the four guys that they had been waiting for all day. It was so amazing. I almost cried. Other than the weird lighting transitions between songs, the effort was flawless. During “Soco...” I saw all of Brand New’s friends on the side of the stage singing along and it was too much. They are so personal and I think that is why people are so attracted to them. During that same song Kevin Devine came out and played lead guitar. That made me smile... Day one, done.
We caught quite a few bands in the Paramount stage on Saturday. Tripside, who we never heard of, was the first band we caught. They were young guys, but played with so much heart that you had to love them. After them was All That’s Left. They have more refined vocals and great stage presence for a band halfway through their first national tour. We also caught MC Lars, the hip-hop laptop punk rock phoneme sweeping the country. My favorite thing they did was rap over Brand New’s “I Believe You, but My Tommy Gun Don’t.” OMG!!! It was great. Check them out right away. We stayed for Onelinedrawing and Jonah’s refined version of “Yr Letter” was a crowd pleaser. We left before H.I.M. played and now know we shouldn’t have. There were 3000 kids outside of the door to the theater waiting to get in for H.I.M. They were only letting kids in if other kids left. Needless to say, we missed H.I.M. and Kill Hannah and that totally sucked. 
Confusion. Holy shit!! They never disappoint and this was no exception. It was really cool to watch them and see the ocean over Stuhby’s shoulder. The sun was shining and fun times were had by all. The headliner for the main stage was Taking Back Sunday. Wow, they sucked! I have not seen them since the lineup has changed and I am not sorry for that. The energy that was once there is gone. The new songs were lackluster and their stage presence was boring. I swear to you, during the new song “Decade Under the Influence” I heard the lyric “I had another drink and drove myself home.” Not cool! Also, Brand New made a good point: Adam, mics are for singing not swinging, especially when you cannot catch it. 
Sunday was just as awesome as the first two days. We started the day off with the Army of Freshmen. I love these Ventura boys. The crowd started small, but soon there was a full crowd. Chris, the singer, did a back flip off of the amps into the crowd to finish the show off and we caught him. We missed the Bled outside, which sucks, cause it was so nice outside. We watched two songs of Nightmare of You featuring ex members of the Movielife. They have a different sound and I had a hard time getting into them. Straylight Run also played Sunday. I was at my van with a band. I heard that they were putting people to sleep. Maybe people just don’t know how to respect good music. We saw mainly things on the main stage on Sunday. 
confused. MxPx kicked ass. I have seen them so many times that it sometimes gets boring to see them, but they were terrific. I haven’t been able to say that in a while. We were singing and dancing, and had a blast. The best show of the night though, had to be Something Corporate. Not only did they play their beloved “Konstantine,” but they rocked material from both full-lengths. The crowd was really into them. SoCo also covered “Bittersweet Symphony,” which was so cool. But, that is not the best. They also covered “Hey Ya.” The whole floor area was turned into a dance hall. Andrew rocked the whole song and the crowd went wild. With “Punk Rock Princess” finishing the set, it was the second best show I saw all weekend. Yellowcard was the closing band. You could tell that the crowd was losing steam. Also, I think SoCo was a hard act to follow. YC tore through a one hour set and finished with a cover of Nirvana’s “Dumb.” I thought that was a bold move, but what do I know? Ocean Avenue got the crowd going, but then I think some people fell asleep.