Motion City Soundtrack / Newport Music Hall / Columbus, Ohio / October 18, 2013
By Courtney Mihocik, Contributor
Outside of last night's Motion City Soundtrack concert, one could see people from every walk of life. It was a perfect harmony outside of Newport Music Hall, and filing into the venue, the crowd was initially calm.
Enter: State Champs. The punk rock band livened up the crowd to a massively awesome level with songs off of its debut album, The Finer Things. Singer and band frontman, Derek Discanio, hit the stage with a whirlwind of energy, hyping the crowd, especially with “Remedy.” Discanio spun around the stage, coming up to the crowd to invite them to sing with the band.
State Champs then introduced What’s Eating Gilbert, who strutted out on stage clad in button-up Oxford shirts and neck ties. The lead singer, Chad Gilbert, guitarist and founder of New Found Glory, came out to the vintage microphone in a sports jacket and a bowtie. Classy. The band carried the energy from State Champs into its set, playing songs about drunken friends and crashing a car after being distracted by a beautiful woman running. The beautiful tambourine player was even featured with a solo.
Unfortunately, the lead singer of Bayside, Anthony Raneri, had to leave two days prior and return home for the birth of his first child. Fortunately for Columbus, this means that a once-in-a-lifetime event unfolded before their eyes. The remaining members of Bayside played half a set of their own songs, while “guest” singers came on stage and performed the songs with them. Discanio opened the first two songs, and then Justin Pierre of Motion City Soundtrack joined for one song before disappearing backstage. His place was taken by Chad Gilbert, and then a friend of the band. The variety of singers brought life and originality to the show. At one point, Bayside covered '80s punk band,NOFX, and a circle pit was created solely for the oringal song, “Linoleum.”
Motion City Soundtrack then filed on stage and immediately began with “Time Turned Fragile.” The Newport exploded with a myriad of voices belting the lyrics at Pierre as keyboardist Jesse Johnson left his keyboard to excite the crowd even more. Motion City then slid into “Point of Extinction” and “L.G.F.U.A.D.” After ending with a heart-wrenching rendition of “Hold Me Down,” Motion City Soundtrack teased the audience with the ending noises of Commit This to Memory.
The audience yelled, “One more song, one more song!” until the band trouped back onstage and announced, “It’s funny you ask for one more song, because we have one more song,” They closed the set with “Everything is Alright.”
Walking out of the show was a refreshing experience. Ears were satisfied with the variety and quality of music played, along with the performances that every talented musician put on that night.
