Panic At The Disco
W/Motion City Soundtrack, The Hush Sounds and Phantom Planet
May 14, 2008
The Sound Academy

People can say that kids have no taste in music nowadays, but I will give them one thing, they have more passion in what they like then a group of indie music lovers with their arms crossed. Kids were lined up in the rain for hours for this show and once inside they gave it their all screaming for every band like they were the headliners.

The newest addition to the Fueled By Ramen roster Phantom Planet were up first. They play high energy rock music that on disc is probably not all that impressive, but they have a great stage presence. All members gave it like their lives depended on it, showing the crowd a real appreciation for everything. Not many people knew the words to the songs, but they still showed that appreciation right back. Phantom Planet offered the first odd crowd interaction of the night with the singer asked the whole crowd to hum louder and louder until the song burst into a big finale (I think you had to be there). Finally for their last track everyone knew who they were, these are the guys who sing the intro song to The O.C. It was interesting to see that a band almost no one in the city has heard of can get a whole room of people singing along at the top of their lungs.

The Hush Sound came up next and what a perfect opener for PATD. A female singer on keys started it off, but there is also a male singer who could be a fill in vocally for Panic At The Disco singer Brendon Urie. The Hush Sound have something good there, but live they aren’t up to par yet. The female needs to learn to command attention from behind the keys more. They fulfilled the second odd crowd participation activity making everyone stand perfectly still and then ‘dance like maniacs’ when the beat came back in. Their final song and apparently new single was by far their best and showed serious potential that needs to be investigated further.

Next up was Motion City Soundtrack. By this point I was wishing I had arrived later so I didn’t have to sit through so many openers. People were getting a little anxious. Luckily MCS are fairly big in their own right so when they hit the stage unknowing folks would have thought they were headlining by the excitement. MCS have all of the elements to be a great band: good singer, catchy songs, no funny business to deal with, but they are seriously lacking the excitement. Their keyboardist was the only one onstage making any attempt to entertain beyond the necessary requirements. They played their biggest single “Everything Is Alright” near the beginning of their set and I must admit I was lost after that point. It all blended into one long track. Their songs are so similar that without paying attention it all sounds the same.

After many music videos and a few commercials being projected on the big screen PATD finally arrived. Anyone who has paid attention to their recent transformation had to be a little curious as to what was going to lay behind the screen. Would it be as extravagant as their last show or have they mellowed that as well? Would they play new tracks the same as we know them?

The members of PATD looked as normal as I think they get dressed in jeans, dress shirts and vests. It’s still a throwback, but no top hats to be seen. The stage was well, pretty odd, with flowers and carpets and movies of spring playing in the background. It was no circus scene, but it was cute and pretty. They burst directly into the intro track from their new album and then straight into the first single “Nine In The Afternoon.” Panic has some haters out there who hate the new album and the change, but none of them were present as everyone was singing along at the top of their lungs and continued to do so through almost every single song they played.

Panic did a good job of combining their old songs with the new to make them feel like they worked together, even though on disc the sounds are extremely different. The only downfall is that they if you saw them on previous tours you were not in for as much fun. Tracks like “But It’s Better That You Do” were much more fun and spectacular with girls, costumes and choreographed dancing. The upside is that Panic At The Disco now feel like a real band instead of a great shtick. Frontman Brendon Urie isn’t as much fun strapped to a guitar, but they have chemistry with each other that was lacking before. Their new more normal show could still use some work, but it’s good to see they can entertain without all of the flash.

They wound everyone up for the end with their first single ever “I Write Sins, Not Tragedies” and then got everyone involved for the end playing “Northern Downpour” with the words projected on a big screen so we could all sing along.

They were clearly going to come back for an encore so they didn’t make anyone wait too long. Except only Urie came back with an acoustic guitar. He asked the crowd to sing the keyboard intro to “Time To Dance” before showing that they really can strip down their old stuff and still make it good, even great on this occasion. Since they had already done all of the big tunes the final two songs seemed a little more unplanned and people were torn between wanting to head outside and wanting to see the end.

In all it was a long night to get some proof. Panic At The Disco showed that they make have lost the exclamation mark in their name, but not in their performance.

- Stephanie Joudrey