That was a good concert weekend!
Friday I went to my first small indoor show in a long time. AND it was the first time seeing an international band in the US in awhile. Avatar brought their Going Hunting tour to Irving Plaza in NYC with openers Magic Sword and Tallah.
So my biggest issue with the concert was the venue seemed unprepared. The tickets and website all said doors at 6:30, but they didn't open until after 7PM. Tallah didn't start until 8pm. So for people like myself who got there on time, had quite a long wait until the music started. It's not like we are talking about filling up an arena here either. This is a 1k capacity GA floor. I don't see any reason why the show started so late unless the bands arrived late (doubt it, they performed pretty close the night before). They redid the venue, it looked mostly the same just cleaner and re-organized the balcony. It seemed like the balcony was a money grab with a lady outside and inside the venue offering people to ability to upgrade for ~$50 more. I already bought a balcony ticket, but apparantly I needed to pay more or just only have access to the corner of the balcony without a view
oh and my ticket said it came with a show poster but that was not the case in reality and after complaining to 3 different people including the manager, they flat out said there was nothing they could do. I'll never buy a prefered balcony ticket again from that venue. Oh, and this was supposed to be a proof of vax or negative test for entry concert, they didn't check me AT ALL.
As to the bands, Tallah were... interesting. I don't really know what else to say. The music seemed all over the place and the band was pretty energetic. The singer seemed like he was mentally unstable. I guess it was all part of the show, but I was entertained, but more so from the oddity of the set and not so much because I enjoyed the music. I do have to give props to the singer. After the set, he went over to the merch and was selling the items himself and just being friendly (without talking, maybe part of his gig was he couldn't talk??) but he was taking pictures and generally working his butt off.
Magic Sword were not my thing. Instrumental metal, kind of synth wave as well. Not bad music, but really not something I totally enjoy. They were these masks and costumes so you couldn't see who they were. From talking to people, it seemed most would have rather this band swapped spots with Tallah. I think I agree, Tallah were more interesting.
Avatar was really good. They have such a great light show, everything just looks great. The opening of them playing right on the front of the stage with a smaller drum set and basically not moving during the first song looked really awesome. 2nd song and they just started going wild. This singer is so incredible live. He really puts 110% into putting on a great show. Super energetic, his screams were on point, the make up and outfits just look incredible. The new songs sounded tight. My only negative was the show was going still at 11:30ish and I had to get out of there to catch a train.
Avatar Magic Sword Tallah Going Hunting Tour LIVE Irving Plaza NYC 2021Then Sunday things got switched up as I headed south to the Jersey shore for a sold out out door concert near the beach for yearly Stoked for the Summer concert at the Stone Pony which is always headlined by the local punk band The Bouncing Souls. This was my first time seeing this show after all these years, they had a really solid supporting line up that interested me. It's funny how much I disliked Irving Plaza (when I used to like the venue) to how I actually didn't hate the Stone Pony when I previously thought it was my most hated venue. It looked like they had new staff there who totally didn't ruin anyone's time of having fun. No more security pushing people through the pit to make sure no one was moshing or no one was smoking. Its a 5k capacity open pit, it's really no fun to have it policed that way and I was pleasantly surprised to not see once incident with security flexing their muscles.
FIrst band was Soul Glo who I thought was terrible. It's like they never performed before either, in between songs just complaining over the mic about the sound without actually engaging the audience. Then it seemed like they got kicked off stage a bit early. Or mayeb they just started late, but the end of their set seemed abrupt and they seemed pissed, but honestly, they SUCKED. Worst band I've seen in awhile.
Then came Suicide Machines. I saw them a couple months ago when the summer first started. This was a bigger show for them, much more people this time around. They played a shorter set though which sucked, but they sounded good and were a lot of fun. Maybe it's because of who went on first, but it was like night and day between performances. Sadly, this is when it started to rain a lot though. And since the place started filling up, getting cover from the rain became difficult. Going into the show, I thought this might be my favorite set of the day, but I was wrong...
Next came New York Hardcore legends, Sick of it All! I hadn't seen them since AFI opened for them around ~2001 when I was a kid. I was so shocked how good they were. I hadn't listened to them since maybe that concert, so I didn't really know their songs anymore, but they just sounded so tight. The singer's vocals were SO good. I don't usually say that for such hardcore vocals, but this guy had some power and a command of the stage. Also had a HUGE mosh pit and a wall of death.
Up came what I figured would be my least favorite set going in, The Menzingers. I saw them a couple years ago at Warped Tour and just couldn't get into them. I still don't think I care too much for their music, but the set ended up being a lot of fun. The crowd was really wild for them and so many people singing along. It was just fun to be in that sea of people having fun. The rain also finally stopped and it got dark so it felt like things were setting up perfectly for the headliner.
I've seen Bouncing Souls a few times before, but this was definitely the best set I've seen of them. ~25 songs, a little acoustic part in the middle of the set with a violinist/cello that spread some really chill vibes. Mosh pit was on point. The band sounded consistently good. All these old songs came back to me as if I never stopped listening to them (and I basically did for the last 15 years). So many good sing along songs. Memories of high school all coming back. What a fantastic set and show overall. By this time I was actually dry too!
Bouncing Souls Stoked For Summer 2021 LIVE @ Stone Pony Asbury Park NJsorry for the long write up
Tomorrow night is Unleash the Archers in NYC! I see they finally made it into the US last night so it seems like the show should happen
then Friday is Maroon 5 back at my hometown venue
Topic: Your Concerts for 2021 (crosses fingers) (Read 18386 times)
