Streetlight Manifesto – Supervillians – Wonder Years – Dan Potthast – at The Key Club – Los Angeles, CA

Not many bands can say they draw a crowd from a wide variety of different genres; but Streetlight Manifesto proves to be one of the exceptions, with Punks, rude kids, metalheads, hipsters, and music lovers alike gathered in Hollywood for round 2 on Streetlight’s "Ship of Fools" tour. The anticipation from the long-awaited show could be felt from everywhere you went around the venue, especially outside on the patio, where people where introducing themselves, sharing cigarettes, and just sharing stories with each other; suddenly it seemed as if scenes didn’t matter any longer, and the audience became a community of anxious Streetlight Manifesto fans.

Solo artist Dan Potthast opened up the show, with simply just a microphone and acoustic guitar. Potthast is vocalist for "psycho ska" band MU330, as well as singing for his side band, The Stitch Up. The venue was nowhere near full for Potthast’s set, causing the crowd to feel more of a personal connection and creating a better atmosphere overall. He performed songs named after cities, which he wrote on tour, such as "Melbourne" and "Los Angeles" and admitted to the crowd he enjoys opening more than headlining. Although the songs were incredibly short (to quote the man himself, "I just said they were songs, I never said they were long"), the vocalist was full of hilarity and genuineness throughout his entire set, making you fall in love with him and his music. During his performance one audience member chanted "freebird", and as a comeback Potthast called the young man in a Bad Religion shirt out and performed a track titled "Freebird" specifically for him; the song described a young guy who listens to Punk, lives in a wealthy suburban neighborhood, and mooches off his parents. In the end, he grows up to be a forty year old loser "who just wanted to hear some Skynard". Both took the joke incredibly well, and Potthast exited the stage to new and old fans cheering him on.

Hailing from Philadelphia, the Wonder Years were next to emerge on stage. Streetlight Manifesto has a tendency to provide their crowd with different sounds through opening bands, and the Wonder Years fulfilled that legacy. The pop-punk group proved to be typical-sounding and were more attractive to the "hardcore" crowd, however, the audience seemed to enjoy their high pitch melodic performance.

By the time the Supervillians were scheduled to come on, the venue was packed and the stench of marijuana was evident. Once the Supervillians actually hit the spotlight, a massive skanking pit broke out; although most of the dancers remained in the pit area, you could easily spot a few people dancing and feeling the rhythm of the music on their own. The Supervillians proved to be more reggae-based than Streetlight Manifesto, pleasing fans of Pepper and The Expendables that resided in the crowd. Their relaxed yet energetic style was intoxicating to everyone and the band performed songs about smoking weed, having sex, and relationships in general. The Supervillians’ set included, "Car Sex", "Ex-Girlfriend", "Mary Jane and Jager", and played a little bit of "St. Thomas", for an eager fan who kept chanting the song’s name. They quickly left the floor, and everyone’s excitement grew knowing Streetlight was up next.

Suddenly, there was no elbow space, the room temperature rose drastically, and people were already clapping and skanking. Around 10PM, the ska legends appeared and immediately the crowd surged into chaos, with the whole audience frantically swaying one way, while some attempted to start a pit. As usual, their music proved to be more than lively and catchy, as fans found themselves singing along to the second song of the night, "Point/Counterpoint", as well as "Watch it Crash" and "Down, Down, Down to Mephisto’s Cafe". Once the fervor of the audience died down a bit, vocalist Tom Kalnoky claimed that "tonight was already better than Monday night", raising more cheers and chants from rowdy and excited audience members. This, of course, was an obvious lead in to another song, and Kalnoky announced this song was not played the previous night and the band surged in to "We Are the Few", a fan favorite that caused one of the most dynamic pits that night. The ska band also covered the Dead Milkmen’s "Punk Rock Girl", which was a track on their latest cover album "99 Songs of Revolution"; although the band performed the classic to their fullest potential, the pit noticeably lost      people and only a few Punks moshed to the cover. The members of Streetlight Manifesto didn’t take much of their set time to talk to the audience, but no one seemed to mind as they were trying to hear as much music as possible. Streetlight performed a number of songs from their 2003 album, "Everything Went Numb", during their set, such as "Moment of Violence" and "Moment of Silence";   towards the end of their ska presentation, they played "We Will Fall Together", ironically everyone did so in the pit. Kalnoky then proclaimed it was the end of the concert, but "everyone knows that it’s a lie and they’ll play a few more". The audience laughed, and  held their encore chants knowing that it was coming anyway. For the encore, the group surprisingly did not perform "Everything Went Numb" like I expected, but instead covered NOFX’s "Linoleum" and "1234 1234". They bid a short farewell and rapidly escaped from the stage.

The beginning of the night seemed to be a foreshadow of the end, due to everyone rushing outside to smoke and talk excitedly about the show. The ska legends put on a sensational show that would make anyone who wasn’t in attendance envious, and the opening acts proved to live up to the potential of Streetlight Manifesto. Being outside muddled in the diversity of the Streetlight Manifesto community that was born earlier that night is a perfect way to showcase the true nature of Streetlight Manifesto and their music and I think that alone is why Tom Kalnoky and the rest of the gang keep the revolutionary band going strong.

-Sarah K.-
Big Wheel Music Scene Reporter

 

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