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Headliner- Mest
Co-Headliners - Hawthorne Heights, Bayside
Opener- Punchline
Date- October 29, 2004
Concert Review By Keith Joseph, Rockstarpix.TV
Mest’s last tour before recording their new album made its stop in to Buffalo, NY tonight. The show consisted of Punchline, Hawthorne Heights, and Bayside as the opening groups. Punchline opened the show and played a very solid set to begin the concert. All of the songs they played were off of their 2004 release “Action”. Their set was filled with energy, and they seemed to really please the crowd with their performance. One of the main factors for the band’s great performances time after time is their chemistry. You can see this in every song, they seem to be having fun while playing and the crowd shows it’s appreciation by singing along with their pop-punk style. They played a set that lasted about 25 minutes or so which made them have to cut out some tracks that they normally would play with a longer set, such as some tracks from their “The Rewind Ep”. They were a great opening band because their fast, aggressive style really got the crowd in to the show at the get go. Their standout tracks included “Battle Scars”, “Heart Transplant”, and “Just Getting Started”.
The second band to play was the first of two Victory Records bands, Bayside. This set was incredible. Bayside really turned up their performance. They didn’t jump around, they didn’t throw their instruments, they didn’t overly address the crowd, instead they stuck to what they do best and that is play some great rock music. They also played a new track tonight, sounding much like their usual style with a little more pop-rock feel. They really put on a great performance. Unlike most live bands, they played the music to perfection and kept the jumping, screaming and running around for the fans to do. The tracks that highlighted the set were ‘Talking Of Michelangelo”, “Guardrail”, and “How To Fix Everything”.
Hawthorne Heights, the second Victory Records band, played a set that just seemed as if it would last allnight. The stage presence was there but the lack of good music was really relevant in this set. They have three guitarists and all seem to be playing rhythm guitar. The set was full of breakdowns and meaningless screaming yet they seemed to have the most crowd support. Their live show is a smidgen better than their recorded album but that does not say much for the quintet. At least in their live show their lead singer does not whisper his vocals and then have that followed by terrible and unwanted yelps from the background singer. The only stand out track was “Ohio Is For Lovers”.
Mest played a pretty good set. They didn’t play much music from their first album but most bands seem to stray away from that in time, which was kind of disappointing because some of those songs are great live. Mest played with a lot of energy and kept the crowd constantly moving with their pop-savvy tunes. The set began with a great Beetlejuice entrance that showed that the band still shows humor is a big part of their personality. At first glance you thought the lead singer/ guitarist Nick Lovato was a member of Rancid because of his tall, bleached Mohawk. But as the music started playing, you realized who you were really there to see and he was just playing a trick on the crowd. One worry was the fact that it seemed as if people were leaving before their set as if they used up all of their youthful energy on the so-so effort of Hawthorne Heights. The standout tracks of their set were “Walking On Broken Glass”, “2000 Miles” and “Cadillac” (for the reason that the crowd seemed to really get involved for this track).
The show was a great effort from the first two opening groups and the last two were average efforts. Mest will be recording a new album soon and hopefully they will not go into the direction of fellow comrades Good Charlotte in writing a terrible record. Punchline and Bayside really deserve more, they really do and this show really showcased that. Since Hawthorne Heights seemed to make my ears bleed, Mest did what they could do to make them dry and feel as if I didn’t waste 40 minutes of my life.
Overall Rating- B (8)
Best Performance- Bayside/ Punchline (Both put on great shows)
Keith Joseph
www.punchkids.com
www.baysiderocks.com
www.hawthorneheights.com
www.mestcrapp.com
produced by Michael Giambra / rockstarpix.tv Copyright 2004
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