Motion City Soundtrack‘s current tour is half-victory lap, and half comeback.
Four albums and nine years in, the most refined of the early millenniums’ pop-punk bands is city-hopping. They’re pulling back-to-back shows in each of the seven stops, playing two albums each night.
A small but loyal army showed up to the second show last night at the Fillmore, which consisted of albums number three, Even If It Kills Me, and four, My Dinosaur Life, played from start to finish.
Most who showed were “repeat offenders” from the night before, as front man Justin Pierre labeled them. And there weren’t many, but they knew every single word.
Before the first of these two albums was released in 2007, Motion City Soundtrack was just gaining mass. They were frequenting lists of rising bands and hitting late night talk shows. The albums they played last night took it to the next level, both debuting in the Billboard top 20 and racking in triumphant reviews.
It will be three years before we get new music from the band, and judging by the half-empty room, they’re starting to lose momentum. That doesn’t reflect on their set though: A high-energy show full of tight harmonies, sugar-laced pop seamlessly mood swinging into heart-melting ballads, and chronologically replaying loyal fans’ memories while adding fun facts about the band in between tracks.
There is no doubt their spring 2012 album could be as well received as its four predecessors. They certainly play like they have the gas to pull it off.
The question is: If a band makes a great record, but no one is around to hear it, does it really even matter?
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