Streetlight Manifesto – Supervillians – Wonder Years – Dan Potthast – at The House of Blues – Anaheim, CA

Just as Anaheim was settling down from Major League Baseball’s All-Star festivities at Angel Stadium, some more excitement graced the city on Thursday night: Streetlight Manifesto. It was the band’s third night in Southern California on their worldwide "Ship of Fools" tour and just like the Key Club a few nights before, the event was completely sold out and many procrastinators were outside frantically trying to obtain tickets. The line-up was the same as the Key Club’s, so of course the crowd was just as diverse and anxious to witness the ska legends.

Unfortunately, due to heavy traffic on the 91 freeway, we missed Dan Potthast’s scheduled performance at 7:30PM; however, the already jam-packed venue was talking and laughing about how hilarious his set was, and how "he’s probably the most genuine guy in this building". Luckily, Dan played a few extra songs upstairs at the merchandise booth with no microphone, just his guitar. He drew a large crowd and although it was difficult to hear his set, the crowd’s laughter could be heard all throughout the upstairs of the venue and they enjoyed the bonus that was added to their Potthast experience.

The Wonder Years were up next and the pop-punk group seemed to succeed in entertaining the crowd. They created a large, steady mosh pit during their set, as well as keeping people’s heads nodding and feet tapping to their fun and tuneful melodies. The band’s lead singer gave props to Dan Potthast, and repeatedly asked the audience if they were ready for the Supervillians and Streetlight Manifesto, causing everyone to go wild in applause and chants of praise and excitement. The band sang a few more tunes that consisted of lots of audience participation before exiting the stage, leaving a sweaty and exhilarated crowd behind.

Naturally, by the time Supervillians walked into the spotlight the floor was jam-packed with bodies and sweltering heat and the bar area was slowly filling up. The infamous reggae group pleased everyone with their mellow, yet enthralling beats. The Jager group performed popular songs such as "St. Thomas", "Anthony’s Song (Movin Out)", "You Got Me", and "Resin" that had the crowd feeling the rhythm and vibe through a huge dancing pit. Not a hard task to describe their sound, Supervillians’ catchy reggae guitar and ska-based saxophone riffs possessed fans to sing a long and skank to every track, as well as preparing them for the superstars of the night, Streetlight Manifesto.

When Streetlight Manifesto finally hit the stage, members of the horn section were lined up in front of microphones to the sound of screaming, adoring fans; then came lead vocalist Tomas Kalnoky to start off the night’s show. Before the first two songs of the night were even over, people were already trying to escape the mass amount of heat and bodies to possible find air or free cups of water. The set they performed was incredibly similar to that of the Key Club’s a few nights prior, by keeping "Point/Counterpoint", "Watch it Crash", "We Will Fall Together", and "Down, Down, Down to Mephisto’s Cafe", among others. However, the band did not play fan-favorite "We are the Few" along with their cover of "Punk Rock Girl". During the middle of their set, Kalnoky took a moment  to thank the enormous crowd for coming out and that this tour was the best they’ve ever done so far, then proceeded to play, "A Better Place, A Better Time", immensely pleasing the crowd, as it is a rarity to hear live. The group also performed "9mm and a 3 Piece Suit", a treat for all Catch 22 listeners existing in the audience, as well as "Somewhere in the Between" and "Failing, Flailing". Due to the main floor becoming so impacted with people, in the back area of the venue a pit solely for skanking was provided; this made the main area easier to start a proper, more organized pit to the brassy, upbeat style Streetlight supplies. Both "A Moment of Silence" and "A Moment of Violence" were played towards the end of the night, with Kalnoky hinting that an encore was pretty much set in stone for the night. Despite this knowledge, the audience still loudly chanted, "Streetlight!" and "One! Two! Three More Songs!". Undoubtedly, Streetlight Manifesto emerged once more to perform their encore, with consisted of "1234, 1234", "Linoleum", and "The Big Sleep". "Linoleum" was definitely the song that fans crowd-surfed the most to, while "1234, 1234" and "The Big Sleep" saw the most combative and dynamic pits that night. Although it was disappointing to see the ska band’s set end, fans agreed there was no better way to end the night.

Punks, rude kids, jazz music lovers, and everyone else in between all ran outside to get their first gasp of fresh air immediately after the show; whether people were gathering together to carry on the evening elsewhere or comparing battle wounds outside the venue, it was inevitable that everyone was overwhelmed by the performance. As many agree, playing a show is easy,as anyone can do it. But creating an experience that will captivate and leave a mark on fans is a difficult thing to accomplish, yet Streetlight Manifesto raises it to an art form. It’s nice to know that if we are failing and flailing throughout life, Streetlight Manifesto could never fail their fans.

-Sarah K.-
Big Wheel Music Scene Reporter

 

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