Live Review: Bomb the Music Industry!, North by North, Devon Kay & the Solutions @ The Beat Kitchen 4-7-12
Bomb
Early into this sold-out show at The Beat Kitchen, there was a palpable feeling of tension and excitement in the crowd, almost as if there was a (pardon the pun) bomb ready to explode.
The first band, Chicago three-piece North by North, played a (surprising) blues/garage rock hybrid. Not what I was expecting for a show like this, but they were an interesting and entertaining opener that the crowd responded well to.
Devon Kay & the Solutions, another Chicago band, followed with their brand of pop-punk. I was not familiar with them going into the show, but was pleasantly surprised by their performance; they were super energetic, fun, and the songs were catchy with some pretty good lyrics. The crowd absolutely loved them and went kinda nuts during their set, stage diving and circle-pitting.
A slight aside: in my younger days, I never really understood how jumping off a stage or running around in circles pushing people and being pushed at shows added to the enjoyment of the music. Now, as a grown man, I still don’t. But everyone seemed to be having a nice time, and the band was able to continue, even with a stage full of audience members for their last song. As crazy as it was during Devon Kay’s set, the place only got crazier for Bomb the Music Industry! (Note: in case you didn’t know, the exclamation point there is part of the band’s name. I’m only noting this here because that sentence sounds really air-heady and dumb (rather than just poorly-written) if you’re not aware of the band’s always-on punctuation. I don’t envy people who work for Alternative Press and are constantly writing articles about Panic! At the Disco and trying to make sentences not sound weird).
BtMI! began their set with Campaign for a Better Weekend,” a build-y song that starts mellow then erupts into a speedy punk rock verse and sing-along chorus. Once that verse kicked in, the place (figuratively) exploded. The entire center of the room became a sea of movement (luckily, I was against the wall on the left side, narrowly avoiding being swept into the center of the punk rock hurricane. Did you know there are coat hooks on that wall at The Beat Kitchen? They are quite handy for hanging your jacket if you’re an old man like myself or hanging your shirt if you’re a dude going into the pit and want everyone to see your tattoos).
Bomb
They played through a very Vacation-heavy set (which was awesome for me, because I love the record) including Vocal Coach,” Can’t Complain,” The Shit That You Hate,” and Hurricane Waves.” There were songs from other releases played as well, like The First Time I Met Sanawon,” 25!,” and I Don’t Love You Anymore.” The set and setlist were great and the band (which for this show included Rick Johnson of Mustard Plug on bass) was energetic and funny (despite showing some annoyance at stage divers running into them and their equipment), but it felt incredibly short. Before I knew it, the show was over and all the under-21 folks (which appeared to be the majority of the crowd) were filing out the side door, shiny not only from sweating profusely, but from the joy that only comes from being young and experiencing a rowdy punk rock show.
Photos courtesy of Lindsey’s iPhone because I totally forgot my camera.
I never interfered with any of the equipment when I was on stage. On stage count em’ 3 times.