January 15th, 2011

Article by Katie Maz

January Fifteenth, 2011
The Twin, Us From Outside, Close Your Eyes, Searching for Satellites, I See Stars, Abandon All Ships
London Music Hall, London
$15 (adv)

-read about each band under the cut!-

Photo: Katie Maz Photography

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The Twin
Cambridge, Ontario
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This was my fourth time seeing The Twin, and it was by far the best. The Cambridge 4-piece was on top of their game, and the venue, already near capacity, was loving it. While the mosh pit raged on in the middle, the front of the crowd consisted mostly of girls, screaming for high fives from lead vocalist Rahib, and free t-shirts that the band was throwing into the mass of people.

The band’s set was varied, playing everything from their classic cover of nursery rhyme Row, Row, Row Your Boat to their newest release, Dirty Dancin'. Ending with audience members clamoring for drumsticks, this was an all-around impressive performance.

Photo: Christina Kuefner

From Searching for Satellites' Facebook Profile

Searching for Satellites
London, Ontario
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One of the keys to a good show is through good opening bands. This was achieved on Saturday, not just with The Twin but also with Searching for Satellites. As with The Twin, the crowd was abnormally energetic for this early in the evening, moshing, jumping, and screaming to the band’s music. Although, they were one of the heaviest bands of the evening, and the crowd’s reception was really no surprise. You can download Searching for Satellites’ EP for free from their myspace, here.

Photo: Garrett Coyte

From I See Stars' Facebook Profile

I See Stars
Warren, Michigan
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Having heard songs recorded by I See Stars, I was not excited for this set. I was pleasantly surprised though to find that I See Stars is one of those bands that are far better live in concert than in recordings. While they still had the higher-pitched vocals, and songs chock full of keyboard that I don’t tend to enjoy, they conveyed a far better energy live than when merely listening to their songs. Their set kicked off with a dramatic introductory melody, blaring across the venue. Some of the highlight songs of their set were the title-track from their 3D album, and their cover of The Outfield’s Your Love, from the 2010 compilation Punk Goes Classic Rock.

Photo: Katie Maz Photography

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Abandon All Ships
Toronto, Ontario
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Ah, the headliner. The band that everyone was there to see. Abandon All Ships kicked off not with a song, but with a loud sudden intro of noises, being spoken over dramatically in a deep male voice. Now, with the amount they’re made fun of, it would be easy for me to follow suit and say that the band played a horrible set. But, for what they are, Abandon All Ships played well, and were they to abandon (hah!) some of the ingredients of their music that seem to just play into current trends, they could be an amazing band. For what it’s worth though, their auto-tune was right on pitch, as usual. 

Being the headliner, Abandon All Ships had the majority of the room (mostly the teenage girls) screaming excitedly through their entire set. Sometimes, they would scream words to the song the band was playing, for example responding to the band’s “We don’t give a fuck” with “We just came to party!” Other times, they would just let out enthusiastic shrieks of joy.

Aside from Geeving, Abandon All Ships also played a couple others of the crowd’s favourites: Guardian Angel in the middle of their set, and closing with their well-known Pedestrian is Just Another Word for Speedbump.

Arguably the biggest disappointment of the set- and possibly the evening, was the absence from the set of Abandon All Ships’ newest song, the recently-leaked Flawless.

Disclaimer: I do know that Flawless isn’t actually Abandon All Ships, but a parody claiming to be an "unreleased song"