Crappy crowds bring down bands
There is a reason why bands don’t venture into the middle of nowhere. People stop going to shows for the bands and more for the fact that there is an actual concert in their little town.
The perfect example of this epidemic is Thursday night in Mansfield, Penn.
If you are wondering where that is, you’re not alone.
On this bitter cold Pennsylvania night, one of the strongest line-ups, of any tour on the road, consisting of Anberlin, Taking Back Sunday and the All American Rejects, rolled into Northern Pennsylvania.
But on this fateful night, the crowd cared more about hanging out with their friends than the music that was being presented to them.
The first band to take the stage was Anberlin, and the Florida quintet did the best that they could in trying to warm up the crowd.
Anberlin, who is no stranger to touring with Taking Back Sunday, tried nobly to get any sort of fan interaction but was ultimately let down by the crowd.
Becoming ever more popular since the release of their fourth studio album, New Surrender, the group got nothing but crickets as they poured their hearts and souls into their music.
Being non-receptive and cold to a band that leaves everything on the stage is no way to start off a show.
For some reason, Taking Back Sunday took the stage next. Its no secret that Taking Back Sunday has one of the best live shows and left the actual TBS fans scratching their heads at the line-up.
Adam Lazzara and the rest of the boys from TBS stormed onto stage without delay.
As the opening chords to “Set Phasers to Stun” blasted out of the speakers, the diehard TBS fans knew it was time to be New Again.
But do not sing at Mansfield University. Apparently singing is frowned upon because every time a person started to sing back the words, they were greeted with death stares from everyone around them.
After seeing only about 15 kids getting into their music, TBS powered through the haters to perform a wide array of songs, spanning from all four of their albums.
New comers Matt Fazzi and Isaac Bolivar showed off their shredding skills and deep love for a band that has contributed so much to a scene that has been over run by hair spray.
Adam even showed off his teeth as a heckler tried to get underneath the band’s skin. And boy was that a mistake.
“Well you’re ugly and I have a Microphone. So where does that leave you?” Lazzara said in response to an unheard insult.
The final band to take the stage was The All American Rejects. With numerous chart toppers, the hope was high that they could finally get the crowd into the show, but this hope was quickly demolished.
Even the pop-punksters in AAR could not get much of a rise out of the crowd. Other than the top charting hits like “Dirty Little Secret” and “Move Along,” the crowd was silent.
Tyson Ritter, the lead singer of AAR, continuously slammed the crowd for being so timid.
Astoundingly, even after Tyson promised that the band would play sitting down if the crowd did not get more enthusiastic the crowd stayed hushed.
Not till after AAR followed through on their threat, the audience started to get loud.
AAR did not put on the best show, but gained back a lot of credit by calling out the crowd. The lackluster crowd brought everybody’s performance down. The more an audience participates, the more the band thrives.
Taking Back Sunday must have been thinking about Mansfield when they wrote “To hell with you and all your friends.”
E-mail: arts@ubspectrum.com