“I’m falling in and out again!”

This review is going to be fairly short because I got to the show late (school) and left the show early (a friend wasn’t feeling good, we were there mostly for TSSF anyway). Here goes…

          Once upon a time I heard an album called Under Soil and Dirt. It was an album I’d never heard before, by a band I’d never heard of before called The Story So Far. Apparently, their band name is from a New Found Glory song, but I wouldn’t know ‘cos I don’t listen to NFG. After hearing about three or four songs from this album I had falling in love with TSSF and didn’t know if I would ever fall out (please excuse my lame pun, haha). They play Pop/Punk perfectly. They have all the proper ingredients for a good Pop/Punk sound, but add their own little secret stuff here and there to solidify their own sound. They’re catchy without being repetitive and lame, they’re emotional without sounding like cry-babies, they’re aggressive/loud without sounding like wannabe tough guys, and they’re fun without sacrificing seroiusness. USAD is a perfect debut album, maybe even too perfect.

          I’ve seen youtube videos of their live show and was impressed by how legit they sound live. They were a little lacking in stage presence, but the crowd raged along with them regardless. Well, let’s suffice to say they left no stone unturned when I saw them. They sounded great, played great, and the crowd responded great. Parker is one of those rare singers that has a natural voice and he sounds just as good live as he does recorded. He’s also a gifted lyricist and gets the listener involved in every word he says. Like Pat Flynn in the Have Heart Live DVD, Parker wouldn’t have to sing a single word if he didn’t want to. The crowd is almost as loud as the PA system, and I was in the thick of it. I was picking kids up every minute or so to help them crowd surf, as I was singing along, jumping along, and also doing some crowd surfing. The guitar players moved around a lot more than I remember from their videos they seemed to be having as great a time playing as we were watching. 

          TSSF played all the jams from USAD (which is almost the entire album, haha) and even played some songs from the new album. I was impressed ‘cos the crowd already knew the words to 2 of the new songs! It just goes to show how popular TSSF has gotten to be in the past two or three years. Parker poured his voice over the venue and shared the mic with the crowd a bit, but like I said we didn’t really need the mic to be heard. They didn’t headline, which I was little bummed about, but they played a really good, really loud, really fun set. It was my first time seeing them live (I’d missed them when they were here in December, I was at my brother’s wedding) and they killed. I can’t wait to see them again at Warped this year.

Thanks again to all my fellow show-goers for making it a fun night, and thanks to TSSF for playing a great set. See y’all next time.

ZN
XXX

“I’ve got something here worth fighting for!” - The Ghost Inside

          Sorry I’m a bit behind on this show post. School has been getting the best of me the past week or so. My Suppy Nation Tour post will follow this one soon.

          The Ghost Inside is one of my favorite bands active in Hardcore right now. I wasn’t 100% stoked on how Get What You Give turned out, but their earlier albums (Fury and The Fallen Ones, Returners) made me huge fans. I was more than pleased to find out they were touring early in the year, and even more stoked when they announced the dates. The icing on the proverbial Hardcore Show cake was the rest of the lineup. Stick To Your Guns is also one of my favorite bands. I haven’t really heard a lot of their old stuff (I know, crucify me now) but The Hope Division made me fall in love with them and Diamond was a great follow up to THD. The rest of the lineup was solid too : Stray From The Path, and Rotting Out are great bands. Rotting Out is on the come up right now, so I won’t be surprised when I see them headline a tour like this. So the more I learned about this tour, the better it got, and I wasn’t disappointed.

          Rotting Out came out and surprised the hell out of me. I’d never heard their stuff before this show, but I definitely appreciate what they do and you can consider me a fan. I won’t lie, I almost judged them by their appearance and was thinking they were gonna be another wannabe Trapped Under Ice, or Terror type band, but damn.. They proved me wrong. They crashed into The Nile like a fucking comet and tore that place to shreds. Their rooted in straight up Punk Hardcore with a bit of heavier side, and they are going 110% the whole time. I appreciate honesty, integrity, and solid music and these guys brought all that. I’m not really a Stray From The Path fan, but they killed too. They had a ton of crowd interaction and put on a good set. Jesse from STYG came out to do some backup vocals and he killed it. There was definitely two solid sets from the openers, but it doesn’t hurt that you’re two openers are legit bands.

          Up next were Orange County’s golden boys, Stick To Your Guns. Like I said above, these guys are one of my favorite bands doing it right now. I fell in love with them once I heard THD, but they got even stronger with the addition of Josh James (formerly of Casey Jones andEvergreen Terrace). Diamond is another great album in their catalogue and that’s what the bulk of their set was made of. I had a feeling/I was hoping they were going to open with the intro/title song “Diamond”, and I was right. I’ve never heard The Nile crowd so loud! From the very first “I know!” to the last “Our time is running out” the crowd was in a frenzy. I was doing some of the hardest moshing I’ve done in a long time, until I got elbowed in the head and was bleeding. I had to post up for a bit ‘til that would stop, but STYG continued wrecking. They played all the more popular songs from Diamond, the bigger jams from THD, and some old stuff too. STYG was unstoppable, and the crowd was right up there with them in terms of energy and passion. During one of the breaks between songs Jesse was talking about Hardcore, and he had me (and others, I believe) in tears. He was talking about how it unites people, why he screams: “So if they can’t hear me, then at least they can feel me”, and how we should love one another and look out for one another ‘cos the people in the outside world don’t give a fuck about us. It was a moving speech, and it only pumped the crowd up more for their last few songs. I was truly moved, and that’s why STYG is one of my favorite bands. They closed with “Amber”, and if you’re thinking, “Damn. That was probably fucking nuts.” then you’re right. It was fucking nuts.

          Now here’s where my night goes South. Before The Ghost Inside started I got a text about a personal emergency back home (in Yuma), so I was worried about what was going on back home and didn’t really get into their first couple of songs. About two or three songs in and the situation had escalated so I went outside to try and help figure things out. I missed The Ghost Inside’s set except for those first few songs. I was really bummed, angry, and disappointed but I was glad to get the situation back home under control. I missed the headliner, but STYG and the other openers did their best in making it a great show for me.

Another night, another great show. As always feedback and comments are welcome and appreciated. If you guys were there then let me know what you thought! 

“Forever more than just surviving, this is my life and this life is my diamond.”

ZN
XXX

Initial thoughts after my first listen through of Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience (in no particular order) :

Holy shit
Retro
Dance
Classy
Soul
Interludes (like on FS/LS)
Only one guest feature (Jay Z)
Damn
Futuristic
All killer No filler
Drugs
Sex
Fuck
Sex
Fuck
Sex
Pop
Expectations met and exceeded
10 songs
Over an hour long
Good balance of retro style versus the “FS/LS sound”
No cliché dubstep
Sinatra-esque meets Jackson-esque = Timberlake
I can’t wait to have Katie grind on me to this
I can’t wait to have sex to this
I can’t wait to film sex to this
Justin’s best yet
Maybe a classic…

I’ll give you guys the official review sooner or later.

ZN
XXX