Honda Civic Tour 2008
“Asses will be rocked.”
-Justin Pierre, Motion City Soundtrack
The Honda Civic Tour delivered on Justin’s promise at Salt Air last Wednesday night (mostly through the valiant efforts of his own band), with a lineup that featured Phantom Planet, Panic at the Disco, Motion City Soundtrack and The Hush Sound. This tour has been taken over by the label Fueled By Ramen in recent years, as all of these bands (with the exception of MCS, which is on Epitaph) are label mates. Luckily, FBR has a few good bands to put on stage.
Phantom Planet was first up and they set the bar high with an entertaining set that included their hit “California,” known primarily as the theme song for the show The OC. Phantom Planet is a very good band that has struggled a little after losing their original drummer and co-founder, Jason Schwartzman (The Darjeeling Ltd.), to his acting career. The band’s new record is called Raise the Dead, and it’s the best work from this band yet. If there were any real justice, Phantom Planet would be headlining this tour, but this is the Honda Civic Tour, so all that counts is how many high school kids are texting each other about your latest ‘do. (Trivia question: How do you get from Phantom Planet to Sylvester Stallone in three degrees?)
The Hush Sound took the stage next and also delivered some great tunes from a new album, their third, entitled Goodbye Blues. This band is a little different from the others and I was a little surprised to see them in the lineup. They have a more mature sound and appeal to an older crowd than the HCT usually attracts. However, the members of the Hush Sound are an appealing bunch and know how to play to the audience. Vocalist/keyboardist Greta Salpeter and guitarist Rob Morris did a walk-on and played percussion on some tunes with Phantom Planet and the crowd loved it. This is a band that deserves more attention than they are getting and they should probably be touring with a different group of bands, but they looked to be having a good time, nonetheless.
Next up was Motion City Soundtrack and they were their usual selves, though perhaps slightly more subdued than the last time they played this venue (in company with All American Rejects), when their keyboardist almost fell off the stage. This band is from the Mini Apple and they have a great sound, but their biggest asset is that they really know how to put on a show. Their only drawback is that all their songs begin to sound a little too much alike after a while, capitalizing as they do on Justin’s high tenor voice and the freewheeling guitar and keyboard sound that is their trademark. They are, however, a ton of fun (almost literally—-step away from the deli tray guys):
The last band was the headliner, Panic at the Disco. They have now dropped the affectation of the exclamation point in their name along with some of the more excessive weirdness seen from them previously, but the name of their latest album still describes them quite well: Pretty. Odd. Their popularity has always been a complete mystery to me, but given the reaction of their (especially female) fans to frontman Brendon Urie, it's clear that his shaggy haircut, patented head flip and general loverboy charm are the primary engines driving this band up the charts.
It's obviously not their lyrics. Some bands have clever, even poetic lyrics, and some bands just don't, but Panic hits a new high in low. They just don't make any sense at all. Worse, at times they sound unintentionally comical. A good example is the fact that there a record number of songs on the this album that use the word "moon." Yeah, I know it's an easy word to rhyme, but let's break out the thesaurus and try a little harder, k? They made the mistake of putting some of their lyrics up on the screen behind them at the end of the show (as if the audience needed them) and we were treated to a repetetive sing-along of this profound quatrain:
Sugarcane in the easy morning
Weather vanes my one and lonely
You are at the top of my lungs
Drawn to the ones who never yawn
See what I mean? I'm not sure who "the ones who never yawn" are, but you can certainly imagine how such persons might be appealing to this band (yawn).
Another odd thing about Panic is the fact that their backstory shares several facts in common with The Killers: From Vegas? Check. Lead singer raised Mormon? Check. Named Brandon or Brendan? Check. Pretty boy? You know it. Band likes to wear costumes? Like it's Mardi Gras. The big difference is that The Killers can actually write songs, whereas, despite their popularity, Panic just haven't shown that ability yet.
Talia Shire had a son with Jack Schwartzman – whose name is Jason Schwartzman – drummer for the band. For those that don’t know Talia Shaire was Adrian -Rocky’s girlfriend/wife in the Rocky movies.
What did I win?
Comment by Abby — June 12, 2008 @ 10:00 pm
Nice job Abby! You win a date with Jason Schwartzman! Just call his mother to collect.
Comment by MCQ — June 12, 2008 @ 11:16 pm
Of all the videos you posted, I like the Panic at the Disco song the most. I’m glad these bands are pretty popular—they’re so much better than anything on the radio. Not really something I’d listen to myself very often, but they’re good.
Comment by Susan M — June 13, 2008 @ 9:02 am
Whahoo!!! I don’t think he needs his mother’s permission, he’s over 18. Added bonus is he’s the drummer. Something about a guy who can play the drums. I’m dialing as I type.
Comment by Abby — June 13, 2008 @ 10:24 am
Yeah, Abby, drummers always get the babes.
Susan, I think that Panic song is definitely the best of all their stuff, but I still think it’s not particularly good and the lyrics are totally lame. I would have figured you for a Phantom Planet fan. My favorite song of theirs is “Raise The Dead.” Totally brought the house down in the concert. You can hear it here:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=563665
Comment by MCQ — June 13, 2008 @ 1:30 pm
[...] Please see my review of this show here. [...]
Pingback by Honda Civic Tour 2008 « MCQESQ — June 13, 2008 @ 2:03 pm
For what it’s worth, I listened to all 763 songs on the SXSW 2008 torrent of MP3s, and Hush Sound was one of about 20 bands I picked to look up to hear more of. The song was Wine Red.
Comment by FHL — June 13, 2008 @ 4:51 pm
That’s not necessarily true. Just because you don’t understand panics lyrics doesn’t mean that they aren’t good. There is deeper meaning to what Ryan is saying. He’s letting out personal information, but not to a point where we can fully understand what he’s telling us. He’s been through a lot of stuff in his life, and he could be using songwriting as a therapy for it. Some people are good at interpreting lyrics, others not so much. I don’t find Brendon particularly attractive, nor do I see the Ryan (girlish looking guitar player) attractive either, but I do love the band themselves. Don’t be so narrow minded, there’s more to this band then good looks. They do what they love, and whether you can decipher the lyrics or not shouldn’t make you hate a band. But I have to agree with you on the other bands. Phantom Planet was my favorite of the night when I went to the HCT.
Comment by Michelle — June 13, 2008 @ 8:26 pm
FHL: I know what you mean. The Hush Sound really draw you in after a while. The more so as you compare them to other bands. They are truly unique.
Michelle: I suppose it’s possible that I just don’t understand what their lyrics are getting at, but at some point, isn’t that their fault as much as mine? What does it say if I can understand Ezra Pound and Wallace Stevens (and BTW I’m not really sure I do) but not Panic at the Disco? They’re just so much deeper? Maybe, but let’s just say I’m skeptical.
Comment by MCQ — June 14, 2008 @ 7:18 pm
I could’nt agree less about PATD, sorry. But not really.
Comment by Hallie — June 18, 2008 @ 7:58 pm
Hey, it looks like the Hush Sound is coming to Salt Lake at the end of July. I am so there! =)
Comment by FHL — June 19, 2008 @ 3:59 pm
Yeah, they will be at the Avalon. It’s a dive, but it should be a good show.
Comment by MCQ — June 19, 2008 @ 4:38 pm