However, I digress, after arriving fashionably late to the show I settled in towards the back of the room due to my giant stature. (I'm 6'-5" and am often asked if I play basketball, which I do.)
The opening act was Mainland, hailing from New York City was a energetic bunch of guys in their twenty's, which they felt the need to share with the crowd at one point in the show. Their repetitious pop hooks often lead into guitar solos by the lead singer. At times the solos were a little belabored and drawn out. The vocals were reminiscent of the Strokes and easy to follow along and understand. The most notable song was Outcast which is also their most well known song. But overall the band was an enjoyable pop rock band that I could see myself coming back to.
The intermission built up the suspense of the unknown of what was to come with Marianas Trench. The interlude songs featured some lighter fare such as Michael Jackson which I rarely heard between sets at most concerts I frequent.
Once the stage was set the lights went down and the dramatic ensemble began. At first you could barely make out the large drumset perched higher up on a platform in the middle of the stage. Out comes the band with much dramatic flare and lights. The lead singer had some type of hood or scarf over his head at first. I thought this was different but figured that it was more for dramatic effect and wrote it off as being showy. Once the music began and the lights came up a little I could more clearly make out the band and how they were dressed. Lets just say some of the guys showed a little more skin than most. But that was just the beginning. They opened with their new track Astoria which is the title track for their new album. The hooks Marianas Trench writes are unparalleled and absolutely catchy. Many of the early tracks are a nod to the music of the 1980's and inspired by Michael Jackson. Josh Ramsay's vocal range was impressive and often stayed in the higher octaves through out much of the show. He was engaging between songs and had a great sense of stage presence in that regard and really knew how to talk to the crowd.
One of the really unique attributes of Marianas Trench was their ability to harmonize vocals thorugh out the entire night. Many artists can pull this off in the studio but it is an absolutely different animal to perform those on stage during a live show. One song that really stood out to me was Fallout, I would even go as far as to say that it sounded better live than it does recorded. This was a strong motif through the performance and really speaks highly to the the vocal abilities of the Matt and Mike who were often harmonizing behind Josh's lead vocals.
One of the final songs was Pop 101 which is a nod to Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe which Josh co-wrote. In Pop 101 he, at times comically, breaks down the structure of a pop song and inspires the fact that it really wasn't that hard and that modern pop can be very formulaic and cookie cutter. A statement which I would not disagree with.
The encore did not fail to disappoint as Josh performed an acoustic version of Good to You and was followed up with Haven't Had Enough. The final number culminated with a very quick flashing of lights so much so that it was seizure inducing to a poor girl that was standing near me who went into epileptic shock during this display. Bogart's professional staff was quickly on the situation and a squad car was there within an matter of minutes. Her health is definitely in my thoughts and prayers as we left before she recovered.
Returning to the concert, Marianas Trench provided me with a very entertaining evening of powerful pop hooks and wonderfully harmonized vocals. Their stage presence was top notch as they incorporated dress, lights, movement and the crowd into their whole performance. It was definitely worth it to check out the show especially since they shattered my expectations of a generic or slightly better than average pop rock group. I would highly recommend checking them out if given the chance. They are a critically acclaimed band in their home country of Canada and it is only a matter of time before the US catches on and they become even bigger.
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