Moshing For Jesus: Underoath, Silverstein & Moneen
By: Adrien Begrand |
Wednesday September 20, 2006 |
| By-the-number Christian rockers Underoath coasted during their performance while Silverstein and Moneen schooled the audience on how to properly rock. |
| Saskatoon, Saskatchewan's Prairieland Park trade and convention center might be
a nice name, but it is actually a rather misleading euphemism for a cold,
soulless collection of gigantic, interconnected warehouses with the kind of tin
walls that reverberate sound in every direction, and the kind of concrete
floors
that destroy one's back after four hours. It's a horrible, horrible place to
see a concert, where the complete lack of ambience can often swallow a
lesser-talented band whole, but on the other hand, if a band is good enough,
and the crowd is receptive enough, the halls could be transformed, albeit
temporarily, into a passable venue, a good case in point being when 8,000
people from far and wide crammed inside to witness the Pixies perform their
fourth post-reunion show in April of 2004. If the bands and the audiences work
hard enough, any ugly dive can work as a venue, and as your humble narrator
walked into Hall B or D or whatever the hell it was for the
Underoath/Silverstein/Moneen show, it was clear that both sides were doing
their part. At least for the first hour and a half.
Inferior venue as it is, Prairieland Park offered an interesting perspective as yours truly walked in a half-hour late (missing He Is Legend's short set). Upon entering, I found myself actually behind and to the left of the stage, so the first thing I saw as my eyes adjusted to the dark hall was not the band, but the 2,000 or so kids on the floor, illuminated by the stage lights, moshing, swaying, dancing, and crowd surfing ecstatically. The noise from the amps became clearer as I turned the corner around the edge of the stage, and, looking to my right, saw Canadian emo darlings Moneen onstage, giving their all. One of the country's finest post-hardcore bands, and definitely one of the most well-traveled, the Brampton, Ontario foursome pounds out punishing guitar rock, alternating between heavy riffs and Sonic Youth-inspired feedback, but it's all about the vocal melodies, of which there are plenty. Guitarist Chris "Hippy" Hughes flailed his long dreadlocks frantically, headbanging as if he was a member of Meshuggah, while gregarious lead singer/guitarist Kenny Bridges did a brilliant job captivating the crowd, his banter sincere, not canned, his singing dead-on, and his energy contagious, as he continually sprinted and leaped from one end of the stage to the other. Moneen's half-hour set featured several songs from their recent The Red Tree album, including "If Tragedy's Appealing, Then Disaster's an Addiction" and "This is All Bigger Than Me," but the closing performance of "The Passing of America," from 2001's The Theory of Harmonial Value got the bodies flying in a big way. Fellow Southern Ontarians (Burlington, this time) Silverstein had a very tough act to follow, and the fact that this was only their second time in this city as opposed to town regulars Moneen didn't help the quintet. However, they managed to hold their own. More popular with the teenaged girls than the guys (screams were audible during the entire set), few screamo bands are as good at conjuring the hooks that Silverstein comes up with, with the band backing it up with deceptively muscular arrangements that are more complex than many people, including yours truly, have given them credit for. Opening with the roaring, hook-laden "Your Sword vs. My Dagger," the band quickly showed why they're primed to become Canada's biggest screamo export. Instead of blandly alternating between screams and clean vocals, singer Shane Told stressed melodies, only dipping into the screaming sporadically, consequently adding often devastating emotional punch to the power pop-tinged tunes, and while the band's mix was less than perfect in the cavernous hall, the combination of Told's vocals and the effective guitar work of Neil Boshart and Josh Bradford made for a pleasing combination. Older songs like "Smashed into Pieces" and "The Weak and the Wounded" got some good circle pits going, but contrary to what the tough-acting pubescent males would claim, it was all about the newer tunes like the shimmering "My Heroine," the dynamic "Fist Wrapped in Blood," and the contagious "Smile in Your Sleep." Though far from cutting-edge, Silverstein are definitely a cut above their labelmates Hawthorne Heights, and it was a good enough set to make this writer realize he might have been a bit too hard on this band in a review of Taste of Chaos back in March. As well-received as Moneen and Silverstein were, everyone was there for screamo Bible-thumpers Underoath, as the band's merch table was plundered by cash-waving kids to the point where shirts and hoodies were sold out, and for the entire night, Underoath's gigantic "Ø" logo was visible on the backs of nearly half the youngsters. And indeed, the crowd erupted when the recorded intro for "In Regards to Myself" started, and it was bedlam when the Florida six-piece launched into the furious opening track from the hugely successful Define the Great Line. The power was definitely there, as guitarists Timothy McTague and James Smith traded taut, hardcore-inspired riffs, drummer Aaron Gillespie and bassist Grant Blandell created a formidable rhythm section, vocalist Spencer Chamberlain traded lines with Gillespie, while the comically intense-looking keyboardist Christopher Dudley tried his damndest to make it look like his synths were the source of all the musical mayhem. Despite sounding terrific, though, there was little interaction between band members, giving the performance an antiseptic feel, and the thin, long-haired Chamberlain cut an oddly preening figure, looking a lot like a young Bobby Gillespie (circa Give Out But Don't Give Up), interacting very little with the crowd, aside from token "You having fun yet?" blather, alternately striking arrogant Christ poses at the center of the stage and dumping bottled water on himself and spitting the remnants on to the kids, who received it like it was holy water. Dude, if you want to look sweaty, do it the hard way: Work for it. The band's set was dutifully split between the new album and 2004's They're Only Chasing Safety. Although older material like "It's Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door," "Young and Aspiring," and "I Don't Feel very Receptive Today" went over huge, the band didn't play "Reinventing Your Exit," their most identifiable song. As for the new stuff, they chose to play it too safe, sticking to the upbeat material like "You're Ever So Inviting" and "Writing on the Walls," avoiding the more bold compositions like the terrific one-two art metal punch of "Returning Empty Handed" and Casting Such a Thin Shadow." Lack of band chemistry and tepid set lists aside, it was something else entirely that derailed Underoath's set. A large reason why Define the Great Line has been able to connect with secular audiences is due to the fact that Underoath keeps their lyrical content ambiguous enough to let listeners make their own interpretations, but live, it's a different story, as the evangelical shtick was cranked as high as it would go. Chamberlain sermonized at length near the end of the set as the maudlin "Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape" brought the night to a painfully schmaltzy climax, and in the night's most uncomfortable display, the band turned the terrific "To Whom it May Concern" from what should have been the high point of the night into a farcical testimony, making the kids hold up their hands as if it was a tacky fundamentalist Christian hymn playing, not the best, most adventurous song Underoath has ever written. It was enough to make this writer wish Fat Mike from NOFX would walk onstage in a dinosaur costume, just to lighten up the proceedings. In the end, Underoath's shameless pandering is all rather harmless, as the music does carry a positive message, and the kids ate it all up (Saskatoon being a hotbed of Christian Conservatism), but while what came out of the amps sounded tremendous, what the kids saw onstage was a band who didn't look like they cared about either the music or the fans, and simply went through the motions, more worried about preaching The Word and getting back on the bus instead of delivering a truly searing performance that many had waited months for. On this night, Underoath might have pleased a bunch of young fans who didn't know any better, but in this jaded writer's case, it was Moneen and Silverstein who made the more lasting impression. |
