By LAUREN HALLIGAN
News Editor
Though Motion City Soundtrack’s upbeat poppy dance rock might sound different in comparison to Bayside’s dark, melodic, technically complex music, the two bands are meeting in the middle this fall for a co-headlining tour.
“We’re excited to finally be able to tour with Bayside,” Motion City Soundtrack bassist Matt Taylor said. “The idea has been running through our heads for a few years now.”
Despite differing styles, both bands are respected veterans of the same maturing pop punk music scene.
“We feel that our bands make a lot of sense together musically and that we have some mutual fans,” Taylor said.
As the two bands, both familiar with touring the United States in the name of rock music, embarked on their dual journey last week, they made sure to include Clifton Park’s Upstate Concert Hall in their travel plans.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve been up there, so we’re looking forward to it,” Taylor said before the show about playing Clifton Park. The band last played the venue in 2011 on a headlining tour.
Last Saturday Oct. 5, the two bands brought their talents together at the local venue, and delivered a show that will not soon be forgotten.
The show began with local pop punk heroes State Champs warming up the crowd. Their first hometown show in months, State Champs is back on the road, supporting Bayside and Motion City Soundtrack on the entire tour.
“We started out as a local band working so hard selling tickets around the Capital Region to our shows at Upstate Concert Hall and other local venues alike. Now, to be part of an actual tour package with these bands that we’ve always looked up, and have the opportunity to travel the country and be exposed to so many new markets and fans is unreal,” State Champs frontman Derek DiScanio said.
A fast-growing pop-punk sensation, who are becoming popular beyond the local market, State Champs are releasing their debut full length album “The Finer Things” Oct. 8.
Also on the tour bill was What’s Eating Gilbert, featuring founding member of the pop punk band New Found Glory: Chad Gilbert. Dressed in suit and tie, Gilbert was more pop than punk Saturday evening, playing upbeat songs such as “Babe,” which he jokingly dedicated to Anthony Raneri from Bayside and the band’s latest single “Complaining.” Gilbert is also known for his role as significant other to punk rock’s leading lady Hayley Williams of Paramore.
Next on stage was the first of the evening’s dual headlining acts, Motion City Soundtrack. Frontman Justin Pierre, and his staple mad scientist hair-do, took the stage front and center, as the band powered through songs like “Fell In Love Without You,” “When You’re Around,” and “A Life Less Ordinary.” Crowdsurfers poured over the barricade as the band played their new release “Inside Out,” which they released last month by streaming it via Rolling Stone.
The band is currently working on preproduction for their sixth album, which they are hoping to record in a few months, said Taylor, giving fans something to look forward to in 2014.
Motion City Soundtrack finished their set with the 2005 pop-rock anthem “L.G.FUAD” and a feel-good closer of “Everything Is Alright.”
Fellow New Yorkers from just down the Hudson, Bayside, then took the stage next in front of an eagerly awaiting audience. The first portion of their set included “They’re Not Horses, They’re Unicorns,” and “Devotion and Desire.”
Although the band hasn’t released any new music since their 2011 “Killing Time,” the rock band had six full-length albums of material under their belts to play. The setlist included a good variation including “Montauk” and “Dear Tragedy” (their encore), off of their 2005 self-titled album, to “Sick, Sick, Sick,” off of their most recent release. Raneri thanked fans for their ever-supporting enthusiasm, as the crowd sang word-for-word songs written a decade ago to the band’s latest hits.
Though Raneri took the spotlight, guitarist Jack O’Shea showed off his fancy fingerwork without missing a note.
Raneri also thanked Step Up Presents CEO Ted Etoll for creating and maintaining “an incredible scene in this town.” Bayside has been continually playing the Clifton Park venue since their start as a touring band.
Show-goers left the venue pleased that night. “Seeing Motion City Soundtrack is like fulfilling a high school dream,” said Motion City Soundtrack fan and Saint Rose junior Courtney Carr. On her first time seeing the band perform live, “I really enjoyed the concert and venue,” she said, adding “Although I specifically went to see Motion, all of the bands were awesome.” Carr’s highlight of the evening was when Motion City Soundtrack finished their set with hit song “Everything is Alright.”
