Face to Face, Strung Out, Blitzkid, The Darlings
Granada Theater
June 5, 2011
Better than: punching a hole in your TV after the Mavericks' game.
Face to Face didn't hit the stage until late in the evening (five minutes after 11, to be exact), but the large crowd that gathered in the Granada hung in there.
And, for the faithful and the newbies, the 70-minute performance the band ended up performing was exactly what the doctor had ordered, and something the band perfected long ago -- a quality, worthwhile set filled with classics along with a few new tunes.
Led by vocalist-guitarist Trever Keith, the band was in fine form.
Performing songs from every one of their albums except Ignorance is Bliss and
Reactionary, there was very little disappointment coming from the crowd.
Sure, most of the attendees looked above the age of 21 and probably had to
work early on Monday, but Face to Face is not some band to take for
granted. The band had been broken up for a few years and, the last time
they headlined in Dallas, it was at Deep Ellum Live. (Fun memory about that Deep Ellum Live show: It was
sponsored by Napster and there was a small little band named New Found
Glory that opened.)
If you've followed Face to Face over the years, you've seen them with
various lineups. Starting out in the early '90s as a trio and then
becoming (and remaining) a four-piece for many years, the band was
awkwardly forced back into trio status when guitarist Chad Yaro quit and
was not replaced. Now, though, back as a four-piece with Yaro and Danny Thompson
replacing Pete Parada (now of The Offspring) on drums, the band truly sounds as
good as they were in the '90s.
Keith knows how to engage a crowd with his style of positive enthusiasm
and humor. Addressing the crowd on the subject of band's previous trip to Dallas,
Keith asked who saw the band at the Warped Tour last year, and only a
small amount of arms went in the air. As an odd band out on that bill in a sea of
baby bands straddling the line between the screamo ghetto and U2-like
aspirations, it was not surprising what Keith proclaimed next.
"The Warped
Tour was lame," he said. The audience cheered.
Rightfully: Keith knew how to handle stumbling blocks that could derail a show by a lesser band.
For starters, there were various technical issues. For the first handful of songs, any
time Yaro sang into his microphone, it fed back. And there were mixing
issues throughout. Sometimes Yaro's guitar was distant while Keith's
guitar was in the forefront. Other times, it was the opposite. Yaro's
vocals were heard sometimes, meanwhile, as bassist Scott Shiflett was always
heard.
Then there's the fact that the show was almost hijacked by a deluge of audience members
getting on the stage. During "Blind," a few folks reached the lip of the
stage and tried jumped back into the crowd. With these divers staying a little too long
on the stage, it made for a somewhat comical sight. Two songs later, during the usual
improv section in "Pastel," Keith pointed out how small and tame the
mosh pit was, as well as how the stagedivers got back into the crowd.
Comparing the show to the kind of bro-fest you see at a Pennywise show,
the joke was that they were playing punk rock in a home for geriatrics.
A great show overall -- although it would have been nicer if things started a
little earlier.
Then again, there were three bands before Face to Face.
Strung Out was highly lauded with their blend of pop-punk and metallic
crunch. Performing a number of well-loved songs from their first three
albums as well as material since then, the quintet was as good as their contemporaries in Face to Face. Frontman Jason Cruz still sings
his head off while the rest of the band makes complicated material look
like it's easy to play. And bassist Chris Aiken was an entertaining
court jester with smiles throughout and even a dance break with his
version of The Robot.
Fellow openers Blitzkid and The Darlings were worthy as well. Blitzkid
played speedy pop-punk with a tinge of metal and classic Misfits.
Zipping through eleven songs in 30 minutes, the band sounded polished and
well-rehearsed, but not in a way where they had eyes on a prize.
The
same could be said about The Darlings. Looking like the kind of band that
could open for Social Distortion and The Gaslight Anthem, the quartet
sounded like those bands -- and yet they didn't sound generic. Recalling a sound not
really heard since Automatic 7 and Welt, this band is promising. And
they knew how to have fun with a crowd that's never seen them before.
They asked if they should play an Operation Ivy cover or a Misfits
cover, and the crowd roared for a Misfits song.
So "Astro Zombies" came
out and sounded great.
Critic's Notebook
Personal Bias: I'm a longtime Face to Face fan and this was my fifth
time to see them. My first time was at The Abyss in Houston in '97, then
Liberty Lunch in '99, then Deep Ellum Live in '01, and last year's
Warped date.
Random Note: "Help us, we're old," said Blitzkid's bassist, mentioning
how the band's latest record (their seventh in 14 years) was on sale at
the merch booth.
Face to Face's set list:
"You've Done Nothing"
"Should Anything Go Wrong"
"Struggle"
"Walk the Walk"
"Bombs Away"
"Ordinary"
"I Won't Lie Down"
"Blind"
"Bill of Goods"
"Pastel"
"You Lied"
"I Want"
"It's Not All About You"
"Velocity"
"AOK"
"All for Nothing"
"Big Choice"
"Disconnected"
"It's Not Over"