Concert Review: The 15th Annual 89X Birthday Bash, featuring Yeah Yeah Yeahs, AFI, et. al. - Page 2

Mapquest somehow chose the longest and most arbitrary way for us to get to Detroit. Maybe they found a way for us to avoid traffic stops and construction, but no matter what it was, they certainly did not want to give us a chance to check out Rogue Wave that afternoon (which is now my third sabotaged attempt at seeing the Sub Pop darlings). Oh, well. After very little decision-making, Laura brought us over to the Fox Theatre stage to begin our concert-going adventure. Laura, who is much more kind than I am, wrote this about our first experience in that area of the festival:

To start things off, Megan and I ventured into the Fox Theatre to check out Say Anything, a California punk pop band that breathes cutesy surfer boy hardcore; and although over the radio their songs offer a nice chuckle and memories of high school afternoons outside in the parking lot vandalizing people's cars, in concert Say Anything was less than pleasing. In fact, they were annoying.

The band itself wasn't half-bad, but frontman Max Bemis, 21, performed poorly, lacking energy and charisma. Their songs dragged, and the set crawled with forceful vocals and a sluggish candor. The California natives even seemed a bit pompous. But Bemis might be fully aware of his talent's shortcomings - he won't play any songs from the band's previous two albums, presumably because he thinks they're so bad.

See, isn't she so much nicer than I am? Here's what I thought of the whole Say Anything experience:

To appreciate a Say Anything set, you have to be either a fan, or the obnoxious lead singer's relative. While the band in general sounded tight and totally together, I was put off by the singer's attitude. This led to a heated argument between myself and the much more understanding Laura:

Me: Can I pan them for the singer being a total douche?
Laura: I don't think that's fair. Give them a chance.
Me: Oh my God... Listen to him!
Laura: I'm trying to watch the show.
Me: Ugh. I hate him.
...
Me: They're singing a song about a girl touching herself and trying to make it all deep and shit.
Laura: I've heard this song on the radio. It makes me laugh.

I felt as if Say Anything's set personified a young teenager's need to make growing up less a fact of life and more of an epic romance where everything is heart-rendingly sincere. Yes, I now know that Say Anything's lead singer is bipolar, and it's not entirely fair to instantly dislike the mentally ill. Nor is it fair for me to judge him from my usual stance on emo, since he actually has gone through a ton of shit. It's more of a dislike I take to seeing a large group of middle-class American teenagers, who on average haven't experienced any great pain or sorrow, yet revel in the pain of others. Music such as Say Anything's, though admittedly not of their own accord, encourages a good deal of young adults to think of pain as a great gift which makes you artistic, interesting, and thought-provoking. Pain becomes more than a necessary part of life, but a part of life to be pursued. It's a self-destructive drive that some teens take too far. I'm not saying that emo music causes suicides, but it does encourage a good deal of dramatic stupidity for the high school set.

Article Author: Modern Pea Pod

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