Yellowcard, The Starting Line, The Matches – Live (Oct. 23rd, 2004)

I had been planning for this show for a long time, and yet, by the time it came I was rushed. For the month leading up to the concert, everyone was talking about it and trying to find some extra tickets laying around (it sold out pretty quickly). People would ask me “hey, you going to YC on the 23rd?”, and I’d say “maybe”, “probably”, “I think so”; but it wasn’t until the day before the show that I finally got a hold of tickets and was going for sure. I was excited, Yellowcard I had seen just 9 months ago and they had been really good, and I liked a few Starting Line songs, so it would be a good night. Then, a couple hours after getting tickets I read in the newspaper that none other then The Matches would be opening too! Now, I was pumped. I loved The Matches! Their CD is amazing, and the two times I’d seen them live they had delivered. Now the day couldn’t come soon enough.

But sure enough, it did, and the next day I found myself in front of the giant TV screen in Red’s waiting for The Matches to come on. At 8:30 they walked onto the stage, Jon’s afro bobbing in the lead. Shawn followed behind in a long raincoat type of thing, he pulled up a bandana from his neck covering his face making it look like he’s a bank robber or something; he then pulled down the bandana and jumped into Borderline Creep. I must say that this time was definitely their best live performance I’ve seen them put on out of the three times I’ve seen them. They’ve always had an insane amount of energy in their performance, but always seemed to be rooted in place and moved around in that one spot, which made for a interesting sight but this time they out did themselves. They went crazy, flying all around the stage, switching mics, jumping up and down, Jon even jumped into the crowd for the last verse of The Restless (which was their last song). Halfway through the set, Shawn lost his raincoat, but still kept his psychotic feel around him. They played most of their CD including Dog Ear Page, Audio Blood, Chain Me Free, Jack Slap Cheer,and Sick Little Suicide. They also played a new song called Throw Us A Smile (or something like that), which they dedicated to Yellowcard. They got the crowd energized, and anyone who knew the words were singing along like crazy. It was a great kickoff to the night.

At around 9:30, The Starting Line took the stage. At first, I wasn’t sure if it was them or not because lead singer Kenny Vasoli no longer had short blond hair of which he had become famous for, but now had long black hair; but right away they broke into their most popular song, Best Of Me, and I knew it was them. I’m not a huge fan of The Starting Line, which means I don’t know all the songs they played that night. I know they played Up & Go and Leaving, but other then that, I’m not sure. They did play 3 or 4 new songs, one was called The World (which was about how everyone is equal) but the other names I forget. Those new songs sounded like good solid Starting Line songs; nice, catchy pop-punk tunes. There were a ton of Starting Line fans at the show, so their performance really got the pit going and people excited. They put on a nice show, although at times I thought they could’ve put a bit more energy into it. Not as good as The Matches, but still a good show.

Now came the time for the headliner, Yellowcard. They started off the show with Pete walking onto the stage and sitting at his piano, after around 10 seconds another blue spotlight turned on behind him, revealing Sean who instantly joined in to the introduction. This “classical instrumental” introduction looked amazing, just with the two of them in the corner of the stage doused in blue spotlights. Soon after the rest of the band come on stage and started playing. Throughout their hour and a half set, (yes, one hour and a half!) they played songs spanning their entire career. Ryan and Ben took up acoustic guitars for two songs in the middle of their set, Rough Draft was one of them I believe, the other I’m not sure. They played pretty much the entire Ocean Avenue CD, which always got the crowd going; they also played older songs like Starstruck, October Nights, and AWOL. You could tell by watching them how much fun they were having performing, running around, laughing with each other, all the while never missing a beat. Ryan Key’s vocals were strong as ever, even with a giant wad of gum in his mouth. Unfortunately, I never saw Sean’s signature back flips that show, but I’ll presume he did them anyway. LP wowoed us with a drum solo and Ben gave a slight guitar one too. For their encore, they played Gifts And Curses off the Spiderman 2 soundtrack and Ocean Avenue. Throughout the entire set, they got the crowd involved, letting them sing, encouraging circle pits, and just doing regular banter in between songs talking about how freezing it was in Canada, saying how George W. Bush is one of the biggest dumb asses they have ever seen, and how Edmonton is a great place to have a show. Yellowcard put on an amazing performance. They sounded perfect, didn’t miss a beat, and got everyone excited. It was a great ending to a great show.