I've decided that I'm not cool at all because I never listened to onelinedrawing before. I kept on hearing how great Jonah was, and how great Far was when he was in it, but never really got around to getting into him. I had only heard continuously good things, and they all happened to be true. Jonah got onstage with an electric guitar plugged into a 6 inch wide fender mini amplifier, and a drum machine/sampler in the form of R2-D2. Pretension went out the window. For the next half hour, I witnessed perhaps the most sincere, vital one man show I've ever seen. If irony is dead, Jonah killed it. The songs are great on their own, and require no real explanation, They are simple vocal-driven anthems about every day topics presented in a very real manner by a guy that you could meet and subsequently hire as your babysitter. His banter with the crowd kept a smile on every face, as did his mid-song breaks. It just seemed like he was too excited about what he has to say to wait for a chance to speak between songs. He joyously thanked the crowd for singing along, but for doing so quietly enough that others could hear. He put aside what he wanted to play to play a set of almost all requests. I could talk for days about Jonah, but the most telling comment I could make is that his pants weren't tight, and he still rocked. If Jonah ever comes to your town, don't miss him. Brave the opening bands to witness the spectacle, you won't be disappointed.

Next up were the darlings of radio DJs who think they are into underground music. This isn't meant as anything bad against Thursday, it's just that their especially catchy brand of melodic hardcore brought in a lot of fans that wouldn't be at the shows otherwise. In tight pants and sporting a new keyboard player (not sure how long he's been in the band), Thursday opened with "Paris in Flames," followed by the single "Understanding in a Car Crash." The crowd seemed to be enjoying it immensely, and the band was definitely tight, but something just seemed a little off for me. Perhaps it was the hand motions that Geoff accompanied the songs with. Perhaps it was the somewhat canned staged presence by the band. Maybe the band's just been on tour for too long. In any case, the show just lacked the sincerity that I had expected. The music lacked the urgency that exists on the recording (Full Collapse, on Victory Records), and the band seemed to simply be pantomiming itself. The notes were perfect, but I couldn't really believe that they were feeling any of it, there was a lack of the catharsis I expected. They were great, don't get me wrong, but maybe they would have been better if they hadn't been touring nonstop for the last year. I would still recommend everybody to go see Thursday, maybe I just caught them on an off night, but for this one show, they were outshone by a man with a ratty electric guitar and an R2-D2.