Last Saturday fellow writer Cassie and I headed up to Hollywood to the Henry Fonda Music Box to see one of our favorite bands—The Rocket Summer. We were a little surprised at the small crowd. Rumors were that only 500 tickets were pre-sold to this 1200-capacity venue.
First band went up about 8:00. The Morning Light is a pop rock group from Pittsburg. Generally their music was pretty typical of their genre—some keyboard, lots of cymbal, and some tenor vocals. Except that their voices constantly sounded like they were reaching to grab the notes and while they probably did it intentionally to imply determination and musical perseverance, it sounded like they were having a hard time controlling their scratchy vocals. Fortunately they were able to make this work on the album, but live, not so much. The lyrics they were singing didn’t help them out. Nothing memorable, really.
The Secret Handshake, a pop-electronica brain child of Luis Dubuc, came on stage next with a bang. Exploding on stage to Punk Goes Crunk’s “I Wish,” he turned The Music Box into a dance floor. Some of the scene too-cool kids stood awkwardly but some caught on and got into the groove. Heavy beats and electronica mixed perfectly in this cover. As his set went on however, a few of his songs seemed a little more rock with clearer vocals and suitable for the crowd. Others seemed unfit for the venue. Some tracks felt like they could only be enjoyed accompanied by some glow sticks and acid. Vocal effects and electronic tracks made some lyrics difficult to understand and, especially with some of the tracks too slow to dance to, the songs un-relatable to the crowd.
Next to take the stage was Phantom Planet. Best remembered for their theme song to the hit teen drama, The OC, these guys are much more talented than said single could possibly lead on. A fan of the band since the release of The Guest in 2002, they have continued to make great music and pump out dance-worthy indie rock hits since. Their stage presence, full of big rock ego and big rock beats, got the crowd rowdy. They played big hits including “California” and single off their new album “Do the Panic.” They even did a mashup of The Guest’s “All Over Again” with “Phantom of the Opera.” I constantly wondered how this great band has managed to continue making amazing music for at least the past decade and stay relatively under the radar. Awesome set from this Los Angeles band.
And last up, headliner of the night, The Rocket Summer. The workings of Bryce Avary, performed by Bryce along with his touring band, the night’s set was fantastic. Pop rock at it’s best, The Rocket Summer’s music is contagious musically and inspired lyrically to create this dance-along sing-out-loud force-you-to-smile sensation. Switching between the guitar and the keyboards, Bryce catered to the small crowd on their first headlining tour since the release of their album Do You Feel in summer of 2007 playing all-time favorites. “Cross Your Heart” and “Saturday were among the oldies-but-goodies and “Save” and “Break It Out” the newer favorites. Mid-set Bryce appeared at the back of the venue at a small stage with just an acoustic guitar and a mic to play “Goodbye Waves and Driveways,” a personal favorite after which he solicited the crowd to help him crowd surf all the way back to the main stage. Surrounded by fans who couldn’t sing the words more enthusiastically or jump higher during the choruses with eyes fixed on a man on stage who couldn’t shine brighter as an example of loving what he does—the music, the fans, and the love—this set was one that would leave any music-lover with a smile on their faces.
Each set only getting better and leading into a great culmination of the night, anyone who missed this tour should definitely kick themselves and if it hasn’t come around to you yet, there’s still time!
(Some photos sited from the respective bands’ myspaces)
