Yellowcard at the Greek

This post is a little bit late, which is unfortunate, but that's how it goes sometimes...

Anyways, new Video of the Week in the sidebar, click on it for a larger play. If you've seen it already, you know it's the Peyton Manning United Way short from SNL a few weeks back, and you know it's hilarious and worth watching again. If you haven't seen it, you now know that you should, because it's hilarious and worth worthing atleast once.

So, yesterday was the big Spring Concert in support of Darfur relief featuring Mates of State, Aesop Rock, and obviously Yellowcard. Now, for $5, I'll see nearly any show with nearly anyone, but Yellowcard is pretty good for $5 even if I'm not their biggest fan.



Anyways, Maggie and I went to the Greek around 2:30 only to be greeted with a ridiculously long line waiting to get in. No idea why, since the show was supposed to start at 2:00pm, but we got in pretty quickly regardless. For the first set, we sat near the right side of the lower amphitheatre to listen to Mates of State, which I kind of regret since the bass overpowered the vocals a lot and it was hard to hear. But, I really enjoyed their set, and ended up picking up their last two albums after the show (both of which I'm listening too at the moment). I'm a big fan of guy/girl harmonizing in songs, e.g. Nothing Better from The Postal Service and "Set the Fire to the Third Bar" from Snow Patrol, and Mates of State is basically a guy/girl group doing their thing. If you're into solid indie stuff, then you probably already know, if not, check it out. I'm really into "Ha ha" right now, but that's probably cause I think the way she laughs is funny.



Aesop Rock followed Mates of State, and it was definitely not the right place for him to do his thing. The Greek was first, half empty, and second, emo-Berkeley kids wanting a Yellowcard fix; so, a rapping hip-hopper from NY with lyrics NO ONE understood didn't do so well. If more people got into, it definitely would've been stronger, but no one did. So it kinda sucked. Sorry.



Yeah. Yellowcard. When people really get into a show, it's really fun. People started crowding the pit and pushing people around, jumping up and down, and waving their arms in the air. Maggie really got into the songs too, so it definitely helped right my mood after the dismal showing for Aesop Rock. The set was a bit short song-wise, but since they took 5 minute breaks between every song, it dragged it out for awhile (although, by their own admission, they were out of shape). Still, I definitely enjoyed the show. They really performed, got the crowd going, improvised, and made it a real concert; not just playing songs for people (which was a problem with Mates of State, but I digress). They even played two songs from their unreleased new album, "Fighting" and "Light Up the Sky". I liked both songs, but "Fighting" was definitely more typical Yellowcard and the one I got into more, so take that for what it's worth.



After the show, they started throwing random stuff into the pit. Mostly guitar picks, but after people started clearing and the crew started cleaning up, they threw a few sets of drumsticks. I, of course, missed it, because I'm dumb. But, I did get an autograph from the fiddler, Sean Mackin and a quick close-up shot before he had to get on the bus to leave.



As always, check out the web album for more pics, and you'll be as happy as me :P

Back to listening to Mates of State and Arcade Fire.

Out.