Post by rachel on Jun 13, 2008 12:38:16 GMT -5
The Starting Line
Floyd's Music Store, Tallahassee, FL
September 24th, 2007
Review by Meghan Kearney
So I used to love The Starting Line in high school. I loved Ken Vasoli then almost as much as I love Jesse Lacey now. Because it had been so long since I’ve really listened to them, I almost didn’t go to the show. But I’m glad I decided to request off work just incase. I bought my tickets 5 hours before the show, and brought along my friend Bryan.
The opening three bands, Meriwether, Four Year Strong, and Permanent Me were all very, very good. Permanent Me I thought sounded a lot like The Starting Line, which is good. But I’m here to tell you about TSL.
I was stage right, I knew id be in front of Matt and a little ways from Kenny. When they walked onto stage I immediately felt pure joy from seeing Kenny right in front of me. After all, I never had the opportunity to do so during my Starting Line phase in 10th grade.
They opened with ‘Up & Go’, which I will say was the perfect choice, being that it’s the first track off of their first album Say It Like You Mean It. The rest of the songs you can see on the set list.
Before one of the earlier songs Kenny rapped the line “I got 99 problems but a pregnant dog aint one!” Random, yet flawless.
Before they played ‘Bedroom Talk’ Kenny asked the audience who was getting laid tonight, and followed up his own question with “Everybody is! Everyone in the pit’s getting laid!” Bedroom Talk is about sex, fyi. I’m going to go ahead and state that this was my favorite song live. They rocked the chorus so hard, every single person was jumping. I think I also accidentally hit the girl behind me in the face during this song. Hard.
They finished off the set with ‘Island’ (which at the end Kenny sang “Under My Umbrella”) and ‘The Best of Me.’ They let the crowd sing the last “tell me what you thought about…” and we sounded awesome. This was one of the greatest concert moments of my life, and I loved the happiness that was on Ken’s face listening to us all singing.
They came back for an encore and sang “21” and ended with “Leaving” the perfect ender. But what was most memorable not only for this show, but for all shows and all artists I’ve ever had the pleasure to see live, Kenny Vasoli is the most genuine of all of them. He couldn’t have possibly thanked the crowd more, and at one point he said something to the effect of “thank you all so much for coming to this show, it means a lot to us because these days we never know if anyone is gonna show up or not.” And it was very clear that he meant it sincerely. This made me melt to a puddle on the floor for sure. He also made a big deal out of one guy who was wearing their clover shirt, and thanking those of us who have been around since the clover shirts were out. After the show was over I watched Kenny wait around for every last fan to meet him, and take pics. He couldn’t have been sweeter to me when I finally made my way to him. I guess the one thing I took with me from this show, in addition to the fact that The Starting Line is still as cool as they were six years ago, but also that Ken Vasoli should be the poster boy for what a good musician should be. I don’t think he had an ounce of thingyiness in him, and the best part about that, is that he is cool enough to be thingyy.
Floyd's Music Store, Tallahassee, FL
September 24th, 2007
Review by Meghan Kearney
So I used to love The Starting Line in high school. I loved Ken Vasoli then almost as much as I love Jesse Lacey now. Because it had been so long since I’ve really listened to them, I almost didn’t go to the show. But I’m glad I decided to request off work just incase. I bought my tickets 5 hours before the show, and brought along my friend Bryan.
The opening three bands, Meriwether, Four Year Strong, and Permanent Me were all very, very good. Permanent Me I thought sounded a lot like The Starting Line, which is good. But I’m here to tell you about TSL.
I was stage right, I knew id be in front of Matt and a little ways from Kenny. When they walked onto stage I immediately felt pure joy from seeing Kenny right in front of me. After all, I never had the opportunity to do so during my Starting Line phase in 10th grade.
They opened with ‘Up & Go’, which I will say was the perfect choice, being that it’s the first track off of their first album Say It Like You Mean It. The rest of the songs you can see on the set list.
Before one of the earlier songs Kenny rapped the line “I got 99 problems but a pregnant dog aint one!” Random, yet flawless.
Before they played ‘Bedroom Talk’ Kenny asked the audience who was getting laid tonight, and followed up his own question with “Everybody is! Everyone in the pit’s getting laid!” Bedroom Talk is about sex, fyi. I’m going to go ahead and state that this was my favorite song live. They rocked the chorus so hard, every single person was jumping. I think I also accidentally hit the girl behind me in the face during this song. Hard.
They finished off the set with ‘Island’ (which at the end Kenny sang “Under My Umbrella”) and ‘The Best of Me.’ They let the crowd sing the last “tell me what you thought about…” and we sounded awesome. This was one of the greatest concert moments of my life, and I loved the happiness that was on Ken’s face listening to us all singing.
They came back for an encore and sang “21” and ended with “Leaving” the perfect ender. But what was most memorable not only for this show, but for all shows and all artists I’ve ever had the pleasure to see live, Kenny Vasoli is the most genuine of all of them. He couldn’t have possibly thanked the crowd more, and at one point he said something to the effect of “thank you all so much for coming to this show, it means a lot to us because these days we never know if anyone is gonna show up or not.” And it was very clear that he meant it sincerely. This made me melt to a puddle on the floor for sure. He also made a big deal out of one guy who was wearing their clover shirt, and thanking those of us who have been around since the clover shirts were out. After the show was over I watched Kenny wait around for every last fan to meet him, and take pics. He couldn’t have been sweeter to me when I finally made my way to him. I guess the one thing I took with me from this show, in addition to the fact that The Starting Line is still as cool as they were six years ago, but also that Ken Vasoli should be the poster boy for what a good musician should be. I don’t think he had an ounce of thingyiness in him, and the best part about that, is that he is cool enough to be thingyy.