Straight Up Random

Concert Review: The Almost Headlining Tour

When: September 24, 2009

Where: Ft. Lauderdale, Fl @ Culture Room

Line-Up: The Almost, This Providence, Anarbor, The Dares

The Review: For all the times I’ve ever been to the Culture Room for a show, this crowd was definitely the smallest I’ve ever seen it. Not saying it’s a bad thing because it actually made for a more enjoyable show. Not being pushed up against by random strangers and having breathing room for once set the mood for how the rest of the evening was going to be, which was good!

The first band that came on stage was a 3-piece from California called The Dares. I’ve never heard of them before this show, but I wasn’t too impressed by their live performance. Nothing about their performance was memorable, and their songs were your typical pop punk songs. As if it couldn’t get any worse, their set seemed never-ending. But isn’t that always the way at shows – the bad bands play for what seems like forever, and the good bands play in the blink of an eye? When they finally got off the stage, Anarbor came on to perform next.

Anarbor stepped it up when they came on stage, bringing the energy the Dares lacked, and really got the crowd going. There were definitely some old-time Anarbor fans because when they sang songs off their old EP, most of the crowd sang along. One can really tell that Anarbor put a lot of heart in their set – guitarist Mike Kitlas had so much enthusiasm while playing his guitar and couldn’t keep still meanwhile singer Slade Echeverria , who not only sounds just like their CD live, sang with a lot of passion. For a band that only released their debut EP on Hopeless back in March of this year, they proved to me, and the rest of the concert-goers, that they know how to put on a good live show.

Next up was This Providence. It is their live show that captivated me and made me a fan of the band the last time I saw them, and they put on yet another stellar performance this time around. Their set-list was comprised mostly of songs from their latest album “Who Are You Now?” and they ended with their single “Letdown.” If you haven’t seen This Providence perform before, I’d suggest you do so or else you’re missing out on an awesome show!

Headlining this entire show was The Almost, and the vibe they put out when on stage was “let’s party!” Of course, not party like “let’s get drunk and make fools of out of ourselves” party because they acknowledged the fact that they have under-aged fans. It was more of a “let’s have a good time and get off your feet” kind of party. They played a good mix of their fast and slow songs, and even snuck in three new songs from their upcoming album “Monster, Monster.” You could tell that the Almost were psyched to be on tour and playing live shows because they looked like they were just having so much fun with their set. Singer Aaron Gillepsie was very hyper on stage and his energy translated to the energy of the crowd.

Overall, this concert was a good one. The smaller-sized crowd made the show even more personable than other ones that have been held at the Culture Room. If the Almost are coming to a city near you, be sure to catch them and enjoy an evening of great bands with solid performances!