Reggie And The Full Effect And Alkaline Trio - September 17, 2005 - EMU Convocation Center - Ypsilanti, MI
Posted by Shane Viars on 09.19.2005
Two great bands, Concert Etiquette and When It's Okay To Leave Early
When I had first heard about this show, I was very excited and yet slightly disappointed at the same time. For anyone who knows me, they will know that I am a very big fan of Reggie and the Alkaline Trio, and I do enjoy me some My Chemical Romance, albeit their live performances are a drag, but their albums are put together well. I was let down because I hadn't heard about it early enough to get main floor seats, and because I had no idea how to get to the Convocation Center at Eastern Michigan University. I knew it was about an hour's drive away, but had no clue on how exactly to get there. Thankfully, the EMU website gave vague directions, and with the help of some students, I found my way there in one piece.
Armed with $30 of gas, a visor full of music and coffee, my girlfriend and I ventured out to Ypsilanti, Michigan, home to the Eastern Michigan University campus, to see a concert of epic proportions. At the Convocation Center, My Chemical Romance would be headlining a tour with the Alkaline Trio and Reggie and the Full Effect.
Upon arriving to the stadium, there were already cars backing up out to the main road nearest the campus, and a line of eager teens anticipated the opening of the doors. The line stretched for almost a half mile, and the doors were opened much to the delight of the fans.
Having not been lucky enough to score Main Floor, we found ourselves sandwiched into one of the first few rows of the lower bowl, about 100 feet away from the stage. We could see from the set that James Dewees' brainchild, Reggie, would be taking the stage first.
If you have never before heard this band, live or recorded, do yourselves a favor and go out and listen to them. No matter what type of genres of music you are into, Reggie will be a sound you've never heard. Led by Dewees on vocals and the keyboard, Reggie began their set with a combination of newer songs, and some older ones, much to the delight of the Reggie fans seated around us. They even threw in an old favorite, a cover of Slayers' "Reigning Blood" With pauses between songs to entertain the crowd in his own unique way, Dewees is always good for a lot of fun, much to the chagrin of the parents in the audience when he jokingly told the audience to "Go get F***ed up after the show," and to "Drink some beers," and "Smoke some weed," all to the delight of the older Reggie fans, who expect this joking behavior from the frontman. While entertaining their older fans with their older songs, they also mixed it up with a few songs off of their new album, all of which are catchier and could hook in some new fans. Ending on two powerful tracks from the new album, Songs Not To Get Married To, Dewees blew the crowd away with songs spawned by his quasi-recent divorce, "What The Hell Is Contempt," and the current single off the album, "Get Well Soon," leaving the show on a strong note.
Now, this is where the Concert Etiquette comes into play. After their set, a father asked me to save the seats of his daughter, her friends and his. Now, this was a general admission lower bowl, so I didn't quite understand the request, with seating even closer to the stage still open, but I digress, and I agreed. He had said that they only needed to go to the bathroom, so to me, it was no problem. However, a lot more people began pouring in, but I did as I said I would, and politely told people that the seats were taken by people I didn't even know, one guy mouthing off to me because the seats, didn't look empty," to him. Now, couple in the set break, and the fact that the Alkaline Trio played a set for quite a while; these seats were empty for almost an hour and a half. 90 Minutes. In this time, the next band had begun playing, and I was sick of yelling over my favorite band to tell people the seats were taken, so four teenagers took the open seats. Now, the father and girls had come back, and I had to endure the last ten minutes of the Alkaline Trio's set with his glaring eyes on me, which was very rude. He then proceeded to yell at the kids who had taken their seats, making them leave, and was still glaring at me. I apologize, but if you leave your general admission seating for almost two hours, missing a band's entire set, they are no longer yours, and had I been one of those teens, I would've told the guy where he could go, but that's just my opinion.
Back to the concert, the Alkaline Trio were beginning to set up their things, most notably, a very nice looking bass drum for Derek Grant, with their updated logo for the new album, "Crimson," on it. Again, if you have never seen or heard the Alkaline Trio, you really need to do yourself a favor and listen to them. Fans of My Chemical Romance, The Used and other new quasi-horror-pop-punk bands will enjoy this band, because they basically originated this genre of music, which in turn was begat by The Misfits. After switching many drummers through the years, the bands permanent line-up is finally set as Matt Skiba-Vocals/Guitar, Dan Andriano-Vocals/Bass and Derek Grant-Drums. They began the set with a song off their newest album, and as they began, the red curtain fell, displaying one of two banners that would be shown through their set, to which the audience erupted for. "Back To Hell," was what the band started out with, a powerful tune to hype the crowd.
The band then proceeded to play a mix of some older songs, some new songs, and a lot of surprises. Most notably, was the band's playing of "Stupid Kid," which was their first big single from their album, "From Here To Infirmary," which in the previous four times I had seen the band, they had never before played. They also played two older songs, "My Friend Peter," and "Maybe I'll Catch Fire," the latter being played at the most recent concert I had seen them at roughly three months prior to, but hearing it in a stadium with the big speakers gave me chills, as it is a perfect example of their horror-pop-punk sound. During this song, as it was an older one, the previous banner dropped, revealing a large, black backdropped logo of theirs, which is universally identified with the band, and again, those die-hard fans loved it, seeing that the band hadn't forgotten their older music.
The band closed out their set with their single off the new album, "Time To Waste," which has a wonderful piano intro and outro, one this writer is still trying to teach himself, and the Manson Family tribute track, "Sadie," which has an amazing voice-over work done by Heather, the legendary "fourth" member of the Alkaline Trio, who can always be found at their merch booths talking with fans. The power of the last thirty seconds of that song is moving, and the dull thud of the last note echoed through the Convocation Center as the band exited the stage.
Now, for anyone who has ever seen My Chemical Romance live, it is very clear that the band uses a lot of what The Simpsons, among others, dub "Studio Magic," because their live sound is absolutely nothing like their recorded album stuff. It was this factor that led a lot of people to leave the show after the Alkaline Trio, of which we were among those people. Now, I have never walked out of anything early, movies, concerts, nothing, so this was a first for me, and I sincerely apologize for not being able to review the end of this concert for you. Do yourselves a favor and listen to their albums, but unless the tickets are cheaper, stay away from them live.
The 411: The two opening bands are of such high quality that the headlining band should've been opening for them. Reggie and the Full Effect are always a great show to see, and if headlining, you'll be treated to a much more fun show. The Alkaline Trio are visionaries of their genre, and are always solid, be it albums or live shows. These two made the $25 ticket price well worth it, even though I hadn't stuck around for the final act.
