Salt Lake City, UT - I got there a bit late due to some circumstances out of my control, so I missed
Hellogoodbye and
Moneen. First band I went to see was
Emery. I only stayed for 3 songs, but from what I saw and experienced in the crowd, they blew me away. I always love when bands can reproduce their sound live and aren't just studio bands (I'm looking at you Fall Out Boy. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Fall Out Boy, they just don't do it for me live). From there I left to go watch the last half of
Mute Math's set. Every time I see this band, I come back with a fuller appreciation of music in general. They love what they do, and they do it well.
Following Mute Math, I went back and watched the last two songs of The Academy Is.... Absolutely LOVE TAI live. :D Third times a charm. After a few songs, I left to go catch all of
Cartel's set. I was slightly dissapointed the last time I saw them (I think Will was a bit sick...), so I was excited for them to redeem themselves - and holy crap did they redeem themselves. Will was SPOT on the entire set. Nothing left to say, really, they left me speechless.
From there I went to go watch
The Stiletto Formal. Unfortunately, I had to watch the last song from Aiden before The Stiletto Formal could play. Awful, awful band. They just come off as so... fake. But, anyways, The Stiletto Formal was INCREDIBLE. Their singer was AMAZING! I didn't think he'd be able to pull it off live, but he sure did. It was really neat to watch their cello player bust it out and their keyboardist is really cute (but more importantly TALENTED, amen). After The Stiletto Formal, I went back to where Cartel played and watched one of my favorite bands play -
Sherwood. ALWAYS fun to see them play, and we helped them pack up their stuff afterwards. They played two new songs, and they sounded sooooooo awesome, I'm really looking forward to their newest offering.
After Sherwood, we went and hung out with Moneen and Sherwood at their tents for a while. I went to the The Militia Group and talked with the nice ladies there, and they hooked me up with a promo copy of the new Umbrellas CD, which I used to review for
Leakmob. After chilling for a while, we caught the last song from The Early November, a few songs from
Evaline, and we were out.
Conclusion: FACT
Okay, now that THAT'S out of the way, let me tell you about the Houston Calls concert on the 8th. Holy... Crap. Best concert I've ever been to. No joke. Hanging out with Chitty, Kenny, Okie, Jarret, and Josh couldn't have been more fun. The first band that played,
The Trademark, surprised me. Very "Just Surrender-esque", except Just Surrender's bassist doesn't lick his bass. :| The next band,
The Summer Obsession, was pretty fun, but nothing too amazing. THEN the party REALLY started when
Self Against City came out. "Ready and Willing" is one of my favorite songs. <3
Quietdrive. Wow. Their singer has an incredible stage presence! Lots of energy, and some great music. When he busted out the violin, I thought it was pretty cool, but the way he mixed it into the song was genious. Incredible band.
And, of course,
Houston Calls. I was really happy that the crowd received them the way they did, and the band performed perfectly. Such a fun band. I <3 Houston Calls sooo much. :D Hanging out with them after the show was a blast, and seeing them at the 7-11 was hilarious. Josh is such a prick to cashiers, haha.
I realize I still haven't given a list of all the CD's I've picked up recently, so I'll do that sometime soon.
Listen To: Sherwood