Commit This To Memory

Motion City Soundtrack

4 Albums, 2 Nights, 7 Cities Tour 2011 – House of Blues, LA 19-20/08/2011

As indicated by the title of the tour, Motion City Soundtrack have taken on quite a challenge. Covering all four of their albums across two nights in seven different cities across the US, I’m sure the pressure is on. The first leg of the tour brings them to the House Of Blues located on Sunset Boulevard in LA. You would be hard pushed to find a venue quite as quirky as this one. With its rusty corrugated iron exterior (that looks set to fall to pieces at any moment) and its wooden interior, it’s certainly an interesting place to find yourself, yet it seems the perfect place for tonight’s headliners. Much like the venue, the band are no short of character, and both their originality and uniqueness are perfectly suited to this unusual building.

     As the house lights go down and the cheers go up, the band come out in a blitz of high energy sending the crowd into something of a frenzied bloodbath. The first album, I Am The Movie, is met with delighted enthusiasm. Old classics The Future Freaks Me Out and My Favourite Accident go down a storm, with the crowd eagerly snatching the words from singer Justin Pierre, leaving him to stand beaming gleefully. Tonight’s crowd certainly aren’t newcomers to this band, as the first and oldest records are greeted with such almighty adoration. After taking a brief ten minute interlude between albums, the band head back to the stage to power through their second, highly acclaimed record, Commit This To Memory. Openers, Attractive Today, and Everything Is Alright, are greeted with such an ear-splitting roar that the crowd threaten to blow the bloody doors off. The set is a powerhouse of soaring rock anthems and delicious melodies, delivered with such wit and charm, that you leave with a tingle of excitement at the thought of reliving the whole thing the very next day.

     As the second night dawns, the fans are out in force once again for another chaotic, music filled night of frivolity and mayhem which the band doesn't fail to deliver. Launching in to Fell In Love Without You, from the third album Even If It Kills Me, the venue is packed to bulging point with po-going fans, each over enthusiastically singing along to each and every word. Indeed you would be hard pushed to find a more adoring crowd than tonight’s bunch. The band themselves seem a lot more relaxed tonight, with frontman Justin Pierre becoming noticeably chattier and more at ease. Between tracks he frequently shares amusing tales and stories behind the songs inspirations, much to the delight of the sea of gleeful faces staring back at him.

     The band cruise through the mammoth set with ease, showing themselves to be true professionals. Well, they were doing ever so well until Hysteria, a song from their latest album My Dinosaur Life, which managed to throw them a bit off course. Pierre manages to sing the first line before tripping up over his own lyrics and forgetting the words. At this loss of focus he can’t help but laugh at his own misfortune, whilst appearing mildly surprised that he hadn’t messed up earlier. As he prepares to tackle the song again, he stands and ponders the lyrics for a moment which seem to have utterly bypassed him, so he turns to his band mates for help… but that didn’t seem to help much either. With a bit of assistance from the crowd (and the internet!), he gets his thoughts in line and is ready to try again – after he has promised each person a personal apology and two dollars compensation for his hiccup! Of course this didn’t actually happen, but he did pop out to greet people afterwards, where he happily signed autographs and posed for endless pictures with ecstatic fans - now that’s what you call star service!

     The rest of the night went without a hitch, with My Dinosaur Life being received with such fervent enthusiasm, proving that Motion City Soundtrack have simply got better and better with time. Opting to play all four albums back to back over two consecutive nights is a pretty momentous challenge to take on – a task which some artists may not have been able to deliver on, but the band simply rose to the occasion. There simply isn't a bad song across all four albums, highlighting that Motion City Soundtrack are light years apart from one hit wonders with only one decent song to their name. No, if this band is good at anything it is consistency, and their uncanny ability to endlessly deliver more than just one songs worth of good music. And with confirmation of a fifth album “in the bag”, they aren't planning on slowing down any time soon. So keep a look out for this band – they are certainly ones to watch.

Check out some of the videos from the show: http://www.youtube.com/user/clairelaura19

**As seen in The Motion Online**