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Hellogoodbye
The Rocket Summer
JamisonParker
Houston Calls
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Lo-Fi Cafe
Salt Lake City, UT
7/23/2005
By: Meagan Rockne
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Have you ever been to a show where the bands get
consecutively better? Well that's what was in store for the
afternoon audience at Lo-Fi Cafe in Salt Lake Cit as Houston
Calls, JamisonParker, The Rocket Summer and Hellogoodbye
took to the stage.
Houston Calls is a pop-punk band with the Flock Of Seagulls'
keyboard. They were the perfect opening band - kept their
set short and the crowd's energy up - although the entire
time, the band reminded me of my high school drill team
with their massive, cheesy grins. It's very difficult to form an
opinion on the music when the keyboardist is over-emoting.
At least it was comforting to know what emotion the song
was supposed to evoke by looking up on stage. It was like
one of those laughter signs held in front of studio TV
audiences, only think of it as more of "you're sad because
your girlfriend left you, but then you get suddenly happy
when you realize you still have your guys."
JamisonParker came on the stage in an unusual fashion. Let
me preface this for you: Salt Lake had been undergoing an
extreme heat wave and the day before the show, it finally
broke - we're talking mid-90's instead of 100's. So when
Parker Case came on the stage and fanned himself, no one
thought it strange. It was rather hot by now. Then Jamison
Covington comes out in a sweater - I don't mean a flimsy
v-neck, I'm talking about a fuzzy, wooly, "I'm going to run
the Iditarod in twenty minutes" kind of sweater. And then he
played the entire set in it. It was a little strange. The heat
didn't seem to affect him too much, along with the rest of the
band because they played an amazing set, mostly consisting
of new songs of their Sleepwalker
album.
Remember how I wrote that the bands got better? Well up
next is the kid who ruins the bell curve for most bands - The
Rocket Summer. Say, what you will about Bryce Avery's
poppy melodies and sugary sweet lyrics, The Rocket
Summer is a band that entertains. It's obvious that he
enjoys what he does and that can be contagious. Plus, when
you have almost an entire audience singing along, it's hard
not to be caught up in the excitement of it all.
The Rocket Summer is almost impossible to follow, but
Hellogoodbye was up to the challenge. By Hellogoodbye's
set, the audience was almost cut in half, which is unfortunate
for those that didn't stay because they missed an amazing
performance.
Hellogoodbye's set was a whirlwind of pop melodies, short
shorts, a sombrero, water guns, a guy dressed in a beer
costume and front man, Forrest Kline trying to find suitable
girlfriends for the eligible men in the bands. A few new songs
were played, but it was the old ones that got the crowd
moving. The band may rely on gimmicks to get the crowd to
pay attention, but there is no doubt that the boys are
talented. They have fun, they don't take themselves too
seriously and that is reflected in their music.
It seemed that the majority of the crowd was there to see
The Rocket Summer, but all the bands entertained. They
even made me forget how hot it was and that I suffering
from a mild case of food poisoning. Now that's a compliment
- a band so good you'll forget that an hour ago you were on
your knees throwing up.
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