Seems like lately, every show I've been to in Boston is a crazy venue. The Rescues played in a vegetarian restaurant and the show I saw on Tuesday, September 22nd, was in a room off of a middle eastern restaurant hence
the name of this well known venue, "Middle East" in Cambridge, MA. It consists of two levels, so be careful when looking at your tickets, either the upstairs or downstairs.
This show was one of my first concerts as "press" with the
whole experience of having a photo pass to take pictures side stage, doing interviews before the show and doing coverage and it was a great time.The show I saw was headlined by alternative favorite Family Force 5 and included Breathe Carolina, Cash Cash, Queen's Club and IRival for the tour journey. The venue itself has a great setup with a large area in the middle for the dancers and moshers, typically the 21 and under crowd and has a separate section for the 21+ plus which also serves as a safe haven for the bands and music nerds like me to take notes! The bands are free to have a beer and enjoy the other acts while also allowing the fans to be a little bit closer to them
, which you can't always do in venues. It also bordered the area where the band would prep for their turn on the stage. It must have felt great to listen to the kids cheer int he audience, including a moment in particular that I remember while Jean Paul, the front man of Cash Cash was getting his mic set up and the kids were yelling and stomping their feet in excitement for the set!
I was there to interview Breathe Carolina, Cash Cash and Queen's Club but I decided to also do a short review of the show, and there really were no negatives to the performance. The show started off with IRival, a new band from the ATL who I'll be seeing again in November when they're on tour with Warped favorite Hit The Lights at Harper's Ferry.
They started off the show with a gigantic bang, had the kids clapping and jumping along the whole time. They had the solid mix of punk/t
techno/pop that many bands work their whole lives to get. They have the requisite long hair and a great screamer in the lead singer.
Next was Queen's Club, a band who's interview I'll post here soon, and they were great. Hilarious and low key off stage, as most bands are these days. Coming all the way from Kansas City (huge Royals fans!), Missouri, from first listen as they started their set mixed with rock and actually a little bit of rap synths mixed in but they quickly shake it up and switch their tone completely. That's when their true rock beasts come out and it's not just due to the headbanging! They also have a electro element which is always needed at these shows. They have a little bit of everything in their set and definitely energized the crowd for the rest of the night! They also included my requisite of hand claps in their music, which always makes me happy. It put them in the same boat for me as We The Kings and Hellogoodbye, which is nothing but a good thing in my heart.
Now on to Cash Cash, led by the energetic and crazy Jean-Paul Marklouf coming from New Jersey. Known
best for "Party In Your Bedroom" as of late, the band was on fire right from the beginning when they came out already starting that party that continued on through out the full entirety of their set. In our interview before the show, Jean Paul suggested one of his major influences on the music he tries to put out is Michael Jackson, and that comes through during his show. A mix of what I see a
s Michael Jackson's energy and Gabriel Saporta like flirtations are seen in his stage presence from his inspired "dance pit" to his high energy cover of Sean Kingston's "Fire on
the dance floor". He was very flirty with the girls in the audience (there was a very high ratio of girls to boys at the show) and would be like "I like you, do you like me?" He definitely knows how to work a crowd. Another thing I really liked about Cash Cash is the instruments they chose. My favorite was the keytar, I'm a pretty big fan and seeing a boy play it made me even more of a fan girl.
Then Breathe Carolina came out, the last act of the night t
hat I was able to catch and it was nothing less then I expected. Prior to
Warped Tour, I knew they were a band that everyone was pretty excited about. From interviews with bands from the Millionaires to Alana Grace, they were all really supportive of Breathe Carolina, and I only had had the pleasure of watching a few of their videos and listening to a few tracks off of their brand new album so I wasn't exactly sure what I was in for. I was made comfortable pretty quickly though when they started off their set with the title track off the album, "Hello Fascination". To this writer, they seem to have the same set up in general as 30H!3, for example but in a good way. David and Kyle are the two front men of the group, and have an amazing energy together that just creates such good
vibes for a show. Everyone was dancing in the crowd non-stop and was loving it. What's great about it too, is that they have the same presence, but they are a little more appropriate for the age crowd that really listens to them, which makes them look even better.
All in all, a great show. Look for IRival hitting the road with Warped and personal favorite, Hit The Lights this fall. Look for Queen's Club new record, they just signed to Tooth and Nail Records a few days before I talked to them at the show, and Breathe Carolina and Cash Cash will be reuniting once again for Breathe Carolina's headlining tour with a few more acts in the mix!
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You can find some of all the bands' music at the respective links below:
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