Relient K, Owl City & Runner Runner
It was a clear evening in Pomona at The Glass House on May 26th and after wandering around the Art District for a couple of hours browsing graffiti art, trying on vintage hats, and discussing the set with some Relient K crew in a book store, we managed to duck into the venue and prepare for a great set.
The first band up was a band called Runner Runner, a band from Huntington Beach, CA. The name sounded familiar, but I wasn’t sure what to expect. This Yellowcard-esque pop rock band entertained the crowd with young energy and it was rewarded with a fair number of kids in the crowd singing along. Among the five on stage were four mics, two guitars, a bass, and a drum kit. They jammed to songs like “See You Around” which was a poppy slow jam and “Dedicated,” an electro pop melody. The set closed with a catchy summer pop tune the band described as, “song about breaking up,” which would have been easy to guess with the opening line of, “Feels like we’re breakin’ up.” Scoring a “meh” in originality, the band was entertaining, fun, great to dance to, and easy to sing along to. You can’t knock that.
The middle band of the night, Owl City, impressed me far beyond my expectations. The Relient K crew we chatted with in the book store described them as “like the Postal Service, but better.” I don’t know if I’d go that far, but they were almost that good, and that says a lot. The set opened with music playing to a dark, cartoon cityscape that exactly predicted the mood of the music. Their music was catchy electro pop with synth break downs and sweet falsetto/tenor vocals. The songs were intermingled with pre-recorded auto-tune and carnival-like synth. The stage was crowded with a lot of equipment for only three musicians (Adam Young backed by Matt and Austin)—among the wires were two Macbooks, two synthesizers, a drum machine, a guitar, and a drum set. They played a new song “Stronger” along with “Dear Vienna,” crowd sing-along “Rainbow Veins,” and closed with them playing their intro cityscape song “Hello Seattle.” Definitely loved by the crowd, Owl City was an all-around success.
Relient K’s energy was turned all the way up from the moment they hit the stage and never let up. This band is old school power pop full of
fun crowd sing-alongs and sincere ballads. They talked a bit about their upcoming release, which Matthew Thiessen (lead guitarist/vocalist) was bold enough to call his favorite yet even before the recording of the vocals. Also, he announced that Adam from Owl City produced one of the songs, which got me pretty excited. From the upcoming release they played “Prove It” and “I Don’t Need a Soul.” They also graced the crowd with a set within a set of old songs including “Mood Rings” and “Chapstick, Chapped Lips, and Things Like Chemistry,” the highlights of 2003’s Two Lefts Don’t Make a Right…But Three Do, and “Sadie Hawkins Dance” (with a reggae-like breakdown) to “take us back to 2001.” The band interspersed some random songs throughout the set like the “five dollar foot long” Subway jingle, The Office theme song, and “Happy Birthday” for Tommy Jr.’s (from Back to the Future and Freaks and Geeks) 13th birthday. Other songs were full of emotion and sincerity like “There Was No Theif,” “Be My Escape,” and the 11 minute encore of “Deathbed” where Matt played the intro solo on the piano and the music swelled for the addition of accordion, trumpets, xylophone and eventually a second pair of hands on the piano. Matt told us that this crowd was the best in a “really really really long time. That must mean you like us.” I can’t speak for everyone, but for me, that’s true. Fun and filled with emotion and energy, this set was a night to remember.
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