Yellowcard Is Back, and a Show Review Wouldn’t Do The Experience Justice
This weekend I rocked the eff out at Yellowcard’s first full band show back in years. For the record–it was November 13th, 2010 at the Glasshouse in Pomona CA. This really isn’t a show review.
At the risk of sounding mildly insane, I have to say that Yellowcard is a band that changed my life. Maybe we’ve been through this before. Maybe you already know.
Out of sheer coincidence (I was there to see Slick Shoes–it was a Surfrider Benefit, I believe), I attended one of YC’s first SoCal shows back in April of 2001. It was a few days after One For The Kids was released on Lobster Records. I was immediately hooked in a way I had never been before, and I went to nearly every SoCal show they played in the years following. It’s upwards 70-something. I’m not saying this to brag–but there is something unique about serendipitously catching a band at their beginning and getting to grow with them. I’m a writer, and I can’t even articluate it.
If you’re reading this on my Buzznet, you can probably relate. You know what it means to invest wholeheartedly in a band. But I fell into Yellowcard at a time where I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do with my life. And some time in between bringing them sharpies and watching them play as the ceiling was sweating on me at Jerry’s Pizza and seeing them win a VMA in 2004… I decided I couldn’t NOT be a part of it. So the internships I did and the street teams I busted ass on and the writing I did was all working toward one goal: I needed to be with the music, all the time. I needed it to be my job to go to shows, to write about baby bands, to meet musicians and try to absorb some of their inspiration. Extracurricular was not an option.
Now, obviously, YC did not put me through college (in fact, I think I even failed a math class because of the parties during the recording of Ocean Avenue) or anything like that–but the ever important MOMENT where you know what you want to be doing for the rest of your life? They gave me that.
So the reunion show was a big deal. Did anyone know it was a big deal for me? I don’t know. I’m kind of an internally emotional person. I do a lot of zoning out and marveling, unbeknownst to everyone else. It’s a tingly, breath-quickening, surreal sort of experience.
Oh, did you want to know how the actual set was? Amazing. It was fierce and rejuvenating and them announcing their album title (When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes) and playing a new song (“For You and Your Denial”) put the excitement level through the roof.
Here is a picture of it:
Before all you old school Yellowcard kids get up in arms about them not playing anything off of One For The Kids-you need to know a few things, because we talked about it after the show.
The set list for this show was designed to keep the energy up and surging between the fans and the band. Not a dull moment. Well, for every one fan who knows the words to October Nights, there are 10 who don’t. And it’s not to say that those die-hards aren’t important. OF COURSE THEY (WE?) ARE. Did they not talk to every single person who lined up after the show?
“If they could see or feel from the stage how those songs take the wind out of the sails of the show because so many people don’t know the words, maybe they would understand, ” singer Ryan Key said.”In order to apologize for not playing these songs it’s almost like we have to apologize for writing Ocean Avenue, and bringing so many fans on board–that has always been an impossible challenge when it comes to the fans who have been with us from the start.” It’s been almost 10 years since OFTK was written. Think about it like this: say you’re an up and coming artist, and you have the chance to display all your best work for one night… as long as you include some finger paintings from Kindergarten. A little awkward and not synchronistic, don’t you think?
So there’s that. But the show was amazing and fun and full of friends and I am really, really glad to have a band that means so much to me back in the scene.
And you’re going to hear a lot about their upcoming album, and all the antics I can get my hands on in between. This is my band, my babies, and I do all I can to bring you closer to your bands (it’s my job! And I fucking love it!) so support a girl here. Invest. Because I know you want a job like mine and they’re a huge part of the reason I’m even here.The Evolution of Yellowcard.
Photos I’ve taken of Yellowcard.
And if you feel I still owe you a review? Shout it out. I just thought you might relate a lot more to this. But let me know.
