The Glamour Kills Tour featuring The Wonder Years, Polar Bear Club, Transit, The Story So Far, and Into It, Over It rolled through Boston last night. It was definitely a change of pace for me as a metalhead primarily going to a strictly pop punk/punk show. I was primarily going to see The Story So Far and The Wonder Years, but for the most part all the bands were good.
My friend and I arrived at the Royale at about 6:45 and Into It, Over It had already started (I only missed a song or two). I am going to be completely honest, I thought he was awful. Sure I give him props for being a one-man band with just him and an acoustic guitar, but his style of emo-love ballads just isn't my thing at all. On the plus side, the sound was good (which surprisingly held up all night, The Royale is a weird-ass venue because it's an upscale nightclub and the first time I went there to see OFWGKTA, the sound was pretty bad). I will say he does seem like a cool dude, his music just really grated on me. Definitely the low point of the night for me.
Very soon after, The Story So Far hit the stage (they had all of their stuff set up while Into It, Over It was playing). They were my primary reason for attending this show and they did not disappoint. These guys are the kings of the pop-punk revival and last night they showed why. They had relentless energy, really cool intros to each song that are not on the studio versions (they even played the intro riff to Enter Sandman by Metallica at one point!), and sounded exactly the same as their studio recordings. They also got the crowd going nuts. There was a barrage of stage-divers, crowd surfing, and pits which lasted for the majority of the rest of the night. Their setlist was damn near perfect (I was especially stoked to see "High Regard" in there) and I had a great time singing the words to all of their songs. The Story So Far was a whole hell of a lot of fun and without a doubt, put on the best show of the night.
Local favorites Transit were up next. I am not overly familiar with their studio stuff, but I heard a lot of bad things about their live shows in the past. While I can say at least for last night that wasn't true. Transit put on a good show. Maybe it's because it was a hometown show that they gave it their all, but everything I had heard about live shows in the past was dead wrong. The crowd was really into it the whole time, the band had pretty good energy throughout the set, and they sang most of the words themselves instead of having the crowd sing it for them. I am still not huge on Transit's studio stuff, but their live show was pretty solid and I definitely wouldn't mind seeing them again.
Polar Bear Club hit the stage next. I missed their set when they played with August Burns Red and Bring Me the Horizon in Boston in November 2010 when they were on the AP tour, but I had heard good things about their performance that night and I was happy I was getting a chance to see them. Despite playing second to last, they got probably the weakest crowd reception of the whole night. That being said, people were still going pretty crazy, it just took a couple songs for the energy to pick up. When the crowd energy picked up, the band's energy picked up as well and their performance became a lot more enjoyable. Their music is a little bit heavier and complex than the rest of the band's on the bill which definitely alienated some of the crowd, but I found them to be a nice contrast to the rest of the lineup. Their studio stuff doesn't really do much for me, but their live shows are energetic and the music sounds better in a live setting. When it was all said and done, Polar Bear Club ended up being one of the better performances of the night.
After Polar Bear Club was done playing, they announced that there was a special guest that was coming out. It was Worcester's own A Loss For Words (who are opening the second half of this tour), who came out to play one song on Polar Bear Club's equipment. I had never heard them before, but based on that one song I was pretty impressed. They were some catchy-ass pop punk with some post-hardcore influences. I definitely dug what I heard and will be checking them out further. If I end up going to Warped Tour this year, I will definitely check out their set.
The Wonder Years closed out the night on a high note. The place was just going ballistic the whole time. The surge at the stage when they opened with "Washington Square Park" was fucking crazy. Easily one of the most insane pushes I've seen and that's saying something after going to dozens of metal shows in my life. There was so much stage diving at points their roadie had to come out and push people off the stage because they were interfering with the performance. The set was good for the most part. They played a lot of prime cuts off of The Upsides and Suburbia I've Given You My All and Now I'm Nothing and there was a lot of fun sing-a-longs (the aforementioned "Washington Square Park", "Logan Circle", "Came Out Swinging" and "Don't Let Me Cave In" being the best of the bunch). One downside was the last few songs kind of dragged ( especially And Now I'm Nothing) and it took my score down a little bit. Overall I had a fun time and it was cool to go a good non-metal show with a non-douchey crowd.
Scores
Into It, Over It 2/10
The Story So Far 8/10
Transit 7/10
Polar Bear Club 7/10
A Loss For Words (one song) 7.5/10
The Wonder Years 7.5/10
Setlists:
The Story So Far:
States and Minds
Roam
Quicksand
Swords and Pens
Daughters
Closure
Mt.Diablo
680 South
High Regard
Transit:
Long Lost Friends
All Your Heart
Nameless
Please, Head North
Skipping Stone
Cutting Corners
1978
Stay Home
Polar Bear Club:
Screams In Caves
Hollow Pace
Resent and Resistance
Pawner
Killin It'
Light of Local Eyes
I'll Never Leave New York
Living Saints
Burned Out in a Jar
Most Miserable Life
The Wonder Years:
Washington Square Park
Melrose Diner
Keystone State Dude-Core
It's Never Sunny In South Philladelphia
Hoodie Weather
Coffee Eyes
Came Out Swinging
Don't Let Me Cave In
Woke Up Older
Local Man Ruins Everything
My Last Semester
Won't Be Pathetic Forever
I Was Scared and I'm Sorry
Logan Circle
And Now I'm Nothing
Encore:
You're Not Sallinger, Get Over It
All My Friends Are In Bar Bands
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