Blogg → September 30: Foxy Sounds Veo

Wed 30 Sep – The Sounds
Last night some friends and I took a two hour drive from University in Ave Maria, Florida, to a joint called Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was a trip I had been planning for weeks: I was going to see The Sounds and Foxy Shazam in concert.

Planning this trip, nothing else mattered: I didn't care that I would have to drive two hours to get there, or that, not having bothered to get my licence yet, I would have to borrow a car and find a driver. I didn't care that the show was on a Wednesday night or that I had an 8:30 a.m. class Thursday morning which I would almost certainly be dead tired for. I'd set a hundred alarms for the class if I needed to. I'd walk to the concert if it came down to it. This was The Sounds and Foxy Shazam - possibly my only chance to see them both in one show. Come hell or high water, Patrick J. B. Simmons was going to be at this concert.

...and it couldn't have been better. We arrived at Revolution Live at around 7:30, bought our tickets, and headed in. Once inside we wandered for a little, deciding whether to watch the show from the balcony or the pit. We settled for the pit, and by 8:30, myself, Mike, Jim, Connor, and Justin were in place. Connor, Justin, and Jim came mostly for the fun - though Jim had some idea of what to expect from Foxy. Mike came for The Sounds, period.

The opening band was a group called The Mission Veo - and the pulled off a very admirable opening. The crowd at the venue was supremely stiff, which was a complete shame, as Veo's music made a perfect kick-off for the evening, and their lead singer tried his best to rile everybody up - climbing up the equipment and off the stage to reach out to people and attempt to get them going.

After Veo's very short set, it was time for Foxy Shazam. Justin managed to snag a stage set list after they finished, and he let me have it, so for Foxy, I've got that covered:
1. 000 Star Spangled
2. 153 Introducing
3. 155 Wannabe Angel
4. 143 Killin' It
5. 158 rocketeer
6. 216 Bye Bye Symphony
7. 168 yes yes yes
8. 000 Evil Thoughts
9. 165 Bombs Away
10. 210 Axe

"Star Spangled" is exactly what it sounds like: Nally came on stage alone and sang the Star Spangled Banner. Connor and I, both Eagle Scouts, took the opportunity to salute as best as possible amidst our laughter. A couple people in the far back jeered at Nally throughout, which he brought up later in his set saying something to the tune of: "A couple people we're booing me, and that really hurts my feelings, but after all you other people cheering, I realized that it didn't matter. And those people booing me? I'm going to grab their hair and smash their faces into the pavement until the bleed."

That sentence actually sums up a lot of Nally's between song speeches - a combination of violent statements and dares ("I bet twenty bucks none of you can take us on!") and corny old jokes. But while Nally was odd between songs, during them he was batshit insane: I expected him to dance like a madman, but he outdoes himself, flopping around like a rag doll, miming everything from shooting a bow to drinking from his shoes, hopping on the shoulders of other band member, and, of course, eating lit cigarettes thrown to him by the audience.

But he wasn't alone: the entire band burst with energy. Alex Nauth sang and played fantastically, taking brakes to hurl his horn into the air and catch it as it fell and Schuyler Vaughn White put one foot on, knelt on, stoop up on, and tipped over his keyboard, without a pause in his playing.

All in all, it's hard to find words to describe the awesomeness of seeing Foxy Shazam live, so I'll keep it simple: you absolutely must do so before you die. Period. It simply blew my mind. It didn't hurt, of course, that they played Wannabe Angel early in the set, as both Jim and myself wanted to hear that song most of all. Great, fun music and a crazy show.

But of course, it wasn't over yet: there was one band left. Mike was drooling with anticipation: this is what he had come for. After I took a moment to recover from my Foxy buzz, I joined him. It was time for The Sounds.

They first came on without Maja Ivarsson. Incense burned on the stage. They played one track. It was awesome, but you could feel the crowd's anticipation: it wasn't The Sounds yet - not until we had Maja.

Then out she came, and the show began. The Sounds weren't a wild and crazy as Foxy Shazam, by any stretch, but in a way, they didn't need to be: with The Sounds, it was all about the music, and that they had down perfect. Dorchester Hotel was the first played after Maja hit stage. The set that followed included Queen of Apology, Living in America, Midnight Sun, Night After Night, and, of course, No One Sleeps When I'm Awake.

The crowd was captivated - nearly everyone was dancing, jumping up and down, and singing along with almost every word. Between tracks, Maja continually spoke of how "fucking awesome" the crowd was and how great it was to have people singing along without needing to be told to. Before one song, asked who in the crowd were "her bitches." Everyone cheered - at her command, we clapped and sang along throughout the whole performance, all the way to the brilliant ending with Ego. It was incredibly loud. It was a little wild. It was pure audio bliss. But most of all, it was The Sounds.

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...and that about wraps it up. I've said all I really can say, other than if you have not been to a show on this tour yet, get to one as soon as you can. There is no excuse to miss it - not one. It's fun. It's beautiful. It's awesome. It's a quintessential musical experience. Simply put, it was Foxy Shazam and The Sounds. Everything I had hoped for as a fan - and then some.