Dec
17
2009

The Maine @ Venue Of Scottsdale

PhotosThursday, December 17, 2009 - 10:33:20 pm
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music, Live Shows)
Photobox ImageIt's been a long time coming, but tonight we finally saw The Maine live. We'd weighed up seeing them on the Warped Tour in the midwest, but I think it was worthwhile holding out and seeing them on their home turf. A definite upside, aside from seeing them as the headliner, was that rather than a bunch of bands we didn't care about, this also meant that we'd see a bunch of other local groups.

Although I was fully prepared for the demographic that would be attending the show, the sea of teenage girls lined up at will call, and inside was still overwhelming. Definitely milling around the bar and seeing all these 'little people' was kinda bizarre. Like when you're just out of your element. Equally bizarre was the door security asking 'under 21?' Are you serious? I know it's a big deal when you've got hundred of teeny boppers in the vacinity of an alcohol severing bar, but couldn't you have posed the question to me as "over 21?" [wink] Anyways, surprisingly the sea of teeny boppers wasn't half as annoying as when we saw Kisschasy last year. Not sure why, but don't look a gift horse in the mouth I guess!

Pat was at the will call booth which Katie was quite excited by. The Venue Of Scottsdale wasn't as I expected, and reminded me a lot of walking into Shriek 3D at Dreamworld.

The opening acts were kinda as we'd expected from our myspace listening earlier. The one somewhat disappointment, and I don't blame him for it, was Austin Gibbs. I don't blame him, because he was solo and acoustic. We really like his stuff and were happy that he was on the bill, it's just that his stuff is really suited, in my opinion for a full band. Plus, at the ripe old age of 23 (it was his birthday), I don't think he was necessarily in his elements, spending quite a bit of time - basically trying to get the teeny boppers to quit their jabbering while he was playing. So probably just not the best to see him in. With that said, it was a pretty good bill for him to get on, even if he was in my opinion the one genre out of place.

This Century was, as we've found with their stuff online, nothing to rave about. One of those "we sound just like The Maine" bands, that don't quite hit the mark. I'm sure you'd love it if you were 16 though.

Just as we've found with online, The Summer Set were pretty good. Again, "we sound just like The Maine, but not quite as awesome". I certainly did like their live performance, which excluded any techno-y effects which for me is part of mars the album somewhat. The acoustic section in the middle was misguided in our minds, but they were actually a worthwhile opener. Their drummer had the Chico style of drumming (ie: arms flailing) and that in itself is always enjoyable. We also saw Daryl Icard up their teching for them. I had to do a double take when I spotted him - "hmmm, no, that definitely is Daryl!"

The Maine set was, of course, quite enjoyable and very rock n' roll. It was also a very good set list, which I think was the other good thing about seeing them on their own turf. I would have expected the majority to have been from Can't Stop, but instead the set was certainly old song top heavy. Throughout the set we moved around a little bit when the moshing started to get out of control. Unfortunately the acoustics by the right bar at the Venue Of Scottsdale were ass. Take note if you ever see a show there. In anycase, I really enjoyed that we got to see Daisy, This Towns Been Talking, If I Only Had The Heart and They Way We Talk from the EP's before the album. It was entertaining to us when John said they were going "way back" in their catalog for This Town's Been Talkin' - a whole two years! [wink] As it was when he said it was their longest set they've done - which was only about 45 or so minutes - which I guess is probably true when you've been part of the Warped Tour etc. That was probably my only complaint, that the set could have been longer. But all in all, a fun rock n' roll show!
Now Playing: The Pistoleros - Hang On To Nothing (Live)

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