show review: The Starting Line Say It Like You Mean It Turns Ten Tour at the Electric Factory, Philly

A lot of my favorite albums are hitting their 10th birthdays. I am amazed at how relevant the lyrics in some of those songs still are, and how i feel that connection a lot less with more recent stuff. Say It Like You Mean It is definitely no exception.

These 10th anniversary shows all have pretty much the same idea. We get to hear the album "cover to cover" and some hits or fan favorites that the band might have had from other albums. Generally speaking its a pretty fantastic way to spend a night. Yes, i realize that i just paid 20 bucks to sit and listen to a band perform a CD that i have upstairs, but the excitement in the room, the screaming along and the circle pits, those things cant be had by jamming out while putting away laundry.

Alright, so i get to the venue and its POURING down rain like God is angry (i just spent ten minutes trying to figure out which Brand New song that statement reminded me of. If you are interested, the song is Daisy and the lyric is "Or if the sky opened up and started pouring rain/like He knew it was time to start things over again") and I'm waiting to hear from Christa on her location. She tells me that shes still a bit away and i decide that i am not going to sit in my car so i get up and make a run for it.

I should have stayed in my car. the opening act was not my bag at all. they are called Such Gold, from Rochester, NY and i really kind of wish they would have stayed up there. It was brutal, and not in the hardcore scene good way. they had a Thursday thing about them, which was tolerable ten years ago but is kind of just annoying and old to me now. Maybe it was a bad mix. maybe it was a bad night. i usually say i don't judge a band by their live show because there is so much that can go wrong, but i really felt like i could live the rest of my days without hearing another note from these dudes and id be just fine.

Anyway, The Wonder Years were up next, and were definitely more my speed. They are local boys, and while i know they have been around the scene for a while, i have never actively listened to them. i think the reason was that i was just feeling inundated with pop-punk bands around that time and couldn't deal with another one. Their set was high energy and bouncy and fun, so i was pleased. The were a really good opening act for TSL.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, The Starting Line came out. Because this was an anniversary show for SILYMI, the set list is pretty evident; they played the album straight through. there was a lot of banter between Kenny and the crowd, and it was good. The band was obviously having fun playing this show, and they both displayed a lot of affection towards the crowd as well as felt the affection that the crowd had for them. They were loose and silly, but hit all the right notes, and it made for a pretty fantastic show.

plus, CIRCLE PIT. MAJOR CIRCLE PIT.

these shows make me feel like I'm 22 again. except that I'm not, and i end up feeling like I'm 42 the day after.

after the set, the guys walked off, and after a chant mixed with "you still got it" and "one more song" they came out and played a few more for us.


Ready
Making Love to the Camera
Surprise, Surprise
Are You Alone?
Greg's Last Day

I tried to get a video of the last two songs, but while the visuals are there, the audio leaves a lot to be desired. if you are curious, ill upload them, but for now they are just taking up residence on my hard drive.

I did, however, get a few shots that aren't too terrible.

 Kenny reading a pretty piss poor review of the album from its release.

and just because i feel like throwing it out there, here is this one, from Roo a few summers ago. Person L played that summer.

I miss my long hair and bangs.

Anyway, this was definitely another good night in a long history of good nights at shows. id rank this show three stars on an alphabetical scale.