The Audio Perv

By Keeyahtay Lewis

Judging by the line around the building when I got to Starland Ballroom on 10/22/11, this lineup was made for 14 year old girls; A Rocket To The Moon, Plain White T’s and Never Shout Never. Once I got inside the amount of signs and handmade t shirts professing love for Never Shout Never’s Christofer Drew was insane. The place was packed front to back, and everyone was ready for the music to start.

A Rocket To The Moon took the stage first. This is the second time I have seen the band and I liked them both times. Led by Nick Santino their brand of acoustic based pop music has a way of sticking in your head. The first time I saw them play they threw in a few verses of covers into their own songs, and I really like that personally. These little snippets show his love of classic rock and country music, but it was probably lost on most of the audience. ARTM was started in Santino’s bedroom, and it is definitely his band, but he has definitely surrounded himself with talented musicians. Songs like “Like We Used To” feature banjo and steel guitar, and his band plays it beautifully. “Dakota” and “Annabelle” were definitely songs the crowd knew well, but when they broke into “Baby Blue Eyes” everybody in the place went crazy.

Plain White T’s were next on stage and it was clear to see that everyone was excited when they came out to play. I have never seen them play before but I was surprised to realize how many of their songs I recognized. “1,2,3,4″ and “Hate (I Really Don’t Like You) were two of the songs that I had forgotten they played and they got huge reactions. “Our Time Now” was another that was received with a lot of excitement. And of course when Tom Higgenson came out to play “Hey There Delilah” acoustic, you could barely hear him over everyone singing along with him. It was a nice moment for everyone there.

Before Never Shout Never came out I talked a bit to some of the kids in the audience. It was pretty amazing to hear all these stories from them about how much this band meant to everyone there. When the lights went down and they came out the scream that erupted was crazy. Stuffed animals and spirit hats began raining onto the stage. Seriously. Drew came out and picked up one of the hats, put it on his head, and they launched into the first song. It seemed that every single person there besides me knew all the words to every song. Although most of the songs were written in Christofer Drew’s bedroom, it seemed they were meant to be sang along with friends. “Lost at Sea” is one that stood out for me. Sparce with drums and overlapping vocals it was a perfect chance for everyone to sing along. Songs like “Coffee and Cigarettes”, “Sellout”, “Lovesick”, every song was met with screams when it began.

At one point I looked into the crowd and saw a bunch of girls crying. Straight up bawling actually. Anytime you see first hand a band that connects that strongly with fans, it is hard to not be impressed with it. Drew spent plenty of time talking directly to the kids, reaching out grabbing hands, and just trying to make an impact with everyone. I read before about how much this band loved their fans, and he really did his best to make sure everyone felt that way.

Although I am not a 14 year old girl, I thought it was a good night for music. All of the bands share a few things in common: all clearly loved playing these songs and seeing the reaction to them live. They all sounded great live. And they clearly really appreciate the love and did everything they could to give that back. Definitely a good night for music.

All photos courtesy of Keeyahtay Lewis of DeadBoltPhotos