| Review: |
I attended Angels and Airwaves recent stop in Washington DC at the 9:30 Club. The show was opened by recently solo artist Ace Enders. The crowd didn't seem very interested in Enders upbeat, melodic pop-rock. There were a few heads bobbing and towards the end of the five-song set, Enders encouraged the crowd to sing along. He chatted a bit about doing music for the right reasons and asked the crowd to sing "Bring back the love" as part of his final song.
The Color Fred was up next. Another recently solo artist, Fred Mascherino, formerly of Taking Back Sunday, started off his set with some upbeat pop-rock. He toned it down a bit with an acoustic song and finished up with the crowd clapping along a little more energetically.
Meg and Dia, a pop-rock act consisting of sisters Meg and Dia Frampton played next. Their melodic music also fit into the pop-rock category, and they sounded more like Michelle Branch than the Paramore, whom they played alongside at Warped Tour this past summer. In addition to their popular song "Roses", the duo played a good cover of Sublime's "Santeria" and a few more tracks off their album "Something Real".
Angels and Airwaves finally took the stage. Amidst flashing lights and a Star Wars-type intro, the band started playing "Call to Arms" Lead vocalist Tom Delonge's voice just didn't seem as strong to me live as on the cd, but musically, AVA was amazing. They played a mix of songs from "We Don't Need To Whisper" and "I-Empire", plus a fast punk cover song which I didn't catch the name of. They closed with "The War", a single from the last album.
The whole show was very good, but the choice of bands seemed a little odd to me. The three opening acts would have made a good tour together, but it seemed AVA needed different opening acts. I don't know who to suggest, maybe more pure rock bands?
If you get a chance to see this show in your town, I recommend you do. If you're a fan of AVA, I think you'll enjoy the set. |
