Audio By Carbonatix
Motion City Soundtrack, Set Your Goals, This Providence, The Swellers
Prophet Bar
February 10th, 2010
Better than: sitting at home worrying about the snow’s possible effect on traffic Thursday and Friday morning.
Motion City Soundtrack played–as expected–to a packed crowd in the big room of the Prophet Bar last night–and they didn’t disappoint, either.
Sure, lead vocalist/guitarist Justin Pierre might look like a whiz kid spawn of Dr. Emmett Brown, but he’s an engaging frontman. And he acted like he was having fun with his four bandmates, rather than look puzzled as to why all these people in the room were singing along to his songs.
Matter of fact, he had no problem stepping away from the mic and letting the crowd sing back to the band throughout the night.
There was rarely a slow moment during MCS’s hour-long set. Songs
from the band’s latest, My Dinosaur Life, weaved effortlessly into a set
filled with songs from the band’s other three albums. Songs like “My
Favorite Accident,” “Everything Is Alright,” and “This Is For Real”
generated the strongest reactions from the crowd–but the crowd also enjoyed
the tastes of the new material as well.
As the band went through its 18-song set, one couldn’t help but think
of this music as very Weezer-esque. Yes, these are geeky love songs,
but thankfully, Weezer isn’t the only reference point with the band’s
sound. If anything, this band has something special with a blend of
bands like The Get Up Kids, Ultimate Fakebook, and The Stereo. MCS is a
band that doesn’t hide from its nerds-who-rock nature, and its set
proved such.
Meanwhile, opening act Set Your Goals may be from California, but its sound is more akin
to the mid- to late-’90s hardcore sound of New York. Its friendly
version of NYHC got the crowd jumping and singing along.
This
Providence was well-received, too, even though its fey, glammy pop rock
felt a bit out of place.
Another opener, the Swellers had a sound that, at times,
recalled The Ataris. The venue was half-full as the band raced through its bubblegum pop-punk. Luckily, the crowd dug what they heard.
Critic’s Notebook
Personal bias: As sacrilegious as it may sound to friends of mine
who saw post-hardcore/emo bands play at the original Door and Rubber
Gloves in the late ’90s, I prefer MCS over Ultimate Fakebook.
Random note: MCS came out to Was Not Was’s “Walk the Dinosaur”
playing on the P.A. I had to wonder how many people in the audience
were born after that song came out.
By the way: I didn’t hear “books” or “boobs” shouted at the band
between songs. Read Darryl’s interview with MCS bassist Matt Taylor to
understand.
