The Block Party, for being all rock, was a very romantic show—and not in the, “I love you” kind of way. Romantic in that every band believed in what they did, what they sang, and how they got their message across to their audience. Romantic in that the Charter One Pavilion sits near the lake, clustered into the Museum Campus of Chicago. The fact that from any seat in the Pavilion you can see water and Chicago skyline makes the show just that more emotive. Yes, very romantic indeed.
The Subways, a London based trio, who mix the aggressive nature of punk with the simplicity of pop and the emotion of blues poured their young hearts into their 30 minute set. Their songs are the kind of songs that you get so far into, that make you lose track of time and before you realize it they are over. Vocalist and guitarist Billy Lunn has a quality in his voice that is partially reminiscent of Johnny Rotten but with a little more harmony. Songs like “Oh Yeah” and “Shake” showcase the talents of drummer Josh Morgan and bassist Charlotte Cooper and their cohesiveness to carry a large portion of the song by themselves—sans vocals. This three-piece outfit entertains with high-octane music and was an excellent kick start to the night.
Head Automatica on the other hand screams they were left off the soundtrack to Empire Records. Their musical influences read like a sick—in a good way—mélange of 90s rockers; The Happy Mondays, Jesus and The Mary Chain, EMF and the like. All rock, but, slightly electronic. “Graduation Day”sounds seemingly as if it will go down in the annals of one-hit-wonderdom, but it is deceptive —for their other songs are solid, well written and maintain that chorus edge that makes “Graduation Day” be a hit. Their stage performance most specifically that of Daryl Palumbo, is definite glam-androgyny—his singing fits the mold of Costello, back in the old days with a little more gruff. Like The Subways, their set was a cut and dry 30 minutes—which was used wisely to power out seven great songs, including the cheeky “Lying Thru Your Teeth”.
Angels and Airwaves took the show beyond all expectations. This fledgling—but experienced band being comprised of musicians that were already in successful bands like; Blink-182, The Offspring and The Distillers—band is on tour with Taking Back Sunday in support of their album, “We Don’t Need To Whisper”. The album is huge in sound and massive in lyric and at the Pavilion those two traits translated into an amazing hour long show. The emotion behind songs like “The Adventure” is meant to fill arenas and in this case it filled a lakeshore.
Above all, Tom DeLonge—the singer and writer—believes in what he sings and writes and that connects with the audience and has them believe in what he says. It has them believe that he is not some superstar rock star above life and the problems that come with it. He is genuine and the music makes that apparent. “Good Day” is another instance in which the immense guitar-play and booming drumming is not only reminiscent of a sound that only great bands like U2 and Pink Floyd mastered, but it also fuels emotion. DeLonge found a way to make songs about emotion and problems seem like they are more than just his—like they belong to everyone—and because of that they work. The orchestration—because it wouldn’t seem fair to just say the music was arranged or written—is like something that doesn’t come around too often. It’s full of energy, like a living being, and can express anything it wants to a myriad of listeners.
The closing act, Taking Back Sunday, although very much anticipated was outdone by Angels and Airwaves making their set seem flat and robotic. Regardless of their cohesion as a band—their playing is nearly flawless—and their smart writing, their singer Adam Lazzara walked thru much of the set with little effort. His limp performance took much of the punch out of their usually punchy sound. Songs from their latest album were seemingly wasted and older songs, while receiving crowd reactions, just couldn’t live up to the hype behind them. And although Taking Back Sunday had those faults, their mediocre performance was still great when put into context of the whole Block Party.
Q-101’s Block Party from the start was nothing but entertainment. With young sounds, crisp music, exciting lyrics and the revelation of what could be a great band in Angels and Airwaves.
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