Cartel and Cobra Starship Live
By: Evelyn Miska |
Sunday March 18, 2007 |
| Clutch Cargo's in Pontiac, MI. |
| Photos By Evelyn Miska
Cartel might not be one of the best known bands out on the road these days, but don't try telling that to the capacity crowd that lined up around the block at Clutch Cargo's in Pontiac, MI. Approximately 1,200 fans, mostly teenagers and a handful of tolerant parents came to see Cartel as they promoted their debut full-length album Chroma. Opening for Cartel were three bands, The New Atlantic, Boys Like Girls and Cobra Starship. It was obvious that the members of The New Atlantic are the rookies of the group and though they appeared to be extremely excited to be on the tour their music and stage presence lacked the polish of the more established veterans. Boys Like Girls had a bit more success as the audience's response to their set was far more enthusiastic. "Hero/Heroine" and "The Great Escape" were definite crowd-pleasers. However, lead-singer Martin Johnson occasionally appeared apathetic to the point of making one wonder if he really even wants to be on stage. Guitarist Paul DiGiovanni, however, makes up for Johnson's lack of joy with an near constant grin on his face proving at least one member of Boys Like Girls was having fun up there. Cobra Starship has seen a bit of a line-up change since their last visit to the Detroit Metro area back in December. The doubtless subject of teenage boy fantasies, keytarist Elisa Schwartz left the band in early 2007 and has since been replaced by the equally lovely Victoria Asher. Asher not only can rock the keytar just as well, but is also capable of handling the seemingly requisite short skirts. Lead singer Gabe Saporta's energy can't be contained and even though he is clearly the one most in the limelight, every other member of the band appears to be having the time of their life just as well. With each performance, Cobra Starship get a little more comfortable with their audiences, the songs and their shtick. Songs like "The Church of Hot Addiction" and "The Kids are All F***ed Up" got the audience dancing and jumping around so much that the floors actually shook. On the final song of their set, "Bring It (Snakes on a Plane)" Saporta continued the band's tradition of pulling an audience member on stage for the rap portion of the song. Saporta was very kind to the lucky teenage girl and chimed in to help her when she started to falter near the end of the verse. They might technically have been an opening band for Cartel, but Cobra Starship would themselves every bit as good as the headliners, if not more so, this evening. Cartel put up a valiant effort and it's difficult to say whether their performance fell a bit flat due to lead singer Will Pugh's professed headache or for other reasons. The band's set was comprised primarily of songs from Chroma and the majority of the audience sang along with every word that spewed forth from Pugh's mouth. The band played "Runaway" early in the night and the intro to the live version was slightly reminiscent of older U2 and was one song in particular that got the audience heated up. One of Cartel's best performances of the night was a great rendition of Oasis' "Wonderwall". Even if it was a little slower than the original, what was most surprising was how many of the teenagers actually knew the lyrics to the song since most of them couldn't have been more than six years old when the song was a hit. The band slowed things down on "The Minstrel's Prayer", despite an intense drum-line (so strong listeners could feel it in their teeth) the song never got going. It was as if the band were stuck in the lead-up to a great chorus that never quite gets there. Cartel fared better with "Save Us", getting the audience (at least most of them) back. Unfortunately, performing "Wonderwall" only ended up revealing flaws and weaknesses in the band's own material. Cartel finished out the evening with a short encore that included "Honestly" one of the singles from Chroma. Cartel gave a rousing performance, gauged by the amount the floor was shaking from the audience's jumping up and down. It was a good choice to end the night with, but it was also crystalizing that Cobra Starship stole the show, at least on this evening in Detroit. Cartel/Cobra Starship/Boys Like Girls/The New Atlantic Clutch Cargo's Pontiac, MI March 11, 2007 |
