Teeny boppers can rock too

Something seems askew when a potbellied middle-aged man can arouse a mob of teenage girls.

Hellogoodbye, Reggie and the Full Effect, Cute Is What We Aim For and David Melillo played two sold out shows for the pre-pubescent masses at The Icon last Sunday. Even though Hellogoodbye was billed as the headliner, Reggie and the Full Effect put on the better show.

Reggie opened their set with none other than Slayer's "Raining Blood." Could there be anything more appropriate to play for a bunch of little girls?

The song alone let everyone know that regardless of who came and wanted to see Reggie and the Full Effect, they were going to enjoy themselves.

Reggie's blend of synth-pop-metal is unparalleled. After the Slayer cover they decided to stick to their own material. Treading from slow jams into death metal territory with songs like "Take Me Home Please" and "What the Hell is Contempt," front man James Dewees had everyone guessing what would come next.

One thing the audience didn't see coming was a shirtless Dewees. He used to be physically fit back when he played with The Get Up Kids, but now he barely fits into his pants.

"It's gravity. Once you turn 25 gravity hits you," he said. "You'll see when you reach that age. The second you turn 25 you're gonna be like, 'James was right. Gravity did get me.'"

In the most awkward moment of the night, James decided to grab the set list off the stage and stick it to his glistening mountain of a stomach. It isn't certain whether he planned it this way, but it remained there for nearly two songs.

"It's the magical fat. You grab stuff and it sticks to it," he said. "We'll be selling it after the show."

Reggie ended their set with their sleazy techno masterpiece, "Love Reality." James decided to strip to the beat, a horrifying decision seeing that he was only wearing shorts. Luckily the song ended before the shorts came all the way off.

"They were definitely a bit out of place," said UB Sophomore Justin Hellman. "But they clearly didn't let that affect their performance."

The second band to perform was Buffalo's own Cute Is What We Aim For. They had the loudest fan reaction of the night, making it difficult to hear lead singer Shaant Hacikyan's voice, which may have actually been a good thing.

There were truly so many deranged teenage girls that they managed to break the barricade during the day show. After the delay and mic problems, which Shaant called "a f*cking joke," Cute was back in business.

Shaant pranced around the stage and belted out songs like "Lyrical Lies" and "Sweet Talk 101." Upon hearing Shaant's slightly whiney voice, the ladies went crazy.

To watch Shaant perform is an experience in itself. He jumps around the stage a lot, bobs his head in a strange manner ala "A Night at the Roxbury" and even throws in a couple of mic tosses. However, the MVP of his stage performance seemed to be his hair.

He couldn't go five seconds without having to do his signature hair flip, which actually cooled down the people in the front of the venue.

Cute strangely dedicated "The Curse of Curves" to the recently announced break-up of the widely praised local band, This Day and Age. It was nice to see that they cared.

Headliner Hellogoodbye put on a strong show, but not at the level of Reggie or Cute. However, songs like "Shimme Shimme Quarter Turn" and "Touchdown Turnaround" had everyone singing and dancing along.

When seeing Hellogoodbye in person, one cannot help but notice their dorky appearance. Singer Forrest Kline looked sickly with his uber-bright polo shirt and bifocal type glasses. The rest of the band appeared to have thrown on hand me downs from the mid-90s.

Appearance aside, Hellogoodbye is about having fun. They've mastered dance-pop music and no one can deny how entertaining they are in concert. Their set would have been extremely strong were it not for the fact that they played amongst three other talented bands.

After a night of being battered and harassed by young girls, Hellogoodbye ended their set with the more than appropriate "Here in Your Arms."

Opener David Melillo played a solid set of rock geared towards fans of shows like "Laguna Beach" and the "OC." It was surprising to see an opener with so much fan accompaniment.

It's not often that a person - teenage girl or not - can go to a show and see four great bands.