A NYC Homecoming.

So Friday night, I had the opportunity to attend the MTV2 $2 bill tour with such bands like, Men Women and Children, The Pink Spiders, Cobra Starship, Head Automatica, and 30 Seconds to Mars and I must say. I was pretty impressed.

3 of the 5 bands were NY natives and they let it be known. The first band to perform was Men Women and Children (MWC) and it was a pretty good set considering all their stuff got stolen a few days before in Detroit. The doors to the Roseland Ballroom were supposed to open at 615 but didn't open until 645. The line to the ballroom was no joke up a 1/4 of 53rd, around the corner to 54th, and down to the end of 54th street. That was a line I was not going to wait on. So knowing how the lines work at the ballroom, me and my cohorts decided to just jump in line and see what happens. Lo and behold we got in fairly quick but to our amazement, MWC was pretty much about ready to play. Like I said before their set was awesome considering the circumstances but the set was cut short due to them being the opening band, a delayed sound test, and well, MTV being unpleasant. They did their normal song and dance and their hometown appreciated it.

Next up were the Pink Spiders from Tennessee. They sucked, nobody cared. They didn't give their crowd love, they just played and left.

Moving on.

Gabe Saporta is my new hero. For those who don't know who he is, he is the lead singer of Cobra Starship, ex lead singer of Midtown, dance extraordinaire, and well, NY native. Now going into this show I had listened to the Cobra Starship album twice, not really digging it only because I had been such a huge fan of their hit song "Bring It" and thought the rest of the album would be just as upbeat. I just want to say that since the show I have listened to the album at least 7 times a day. Gabe puts in a tremendous effort in trying to put on a good show for his hometown fans. The Cobra Starship set was electric and got everybody moving after the pain that the fans had to sit through the act before. Not to mention Gabe is also one of the coolest guys I've seen in a while. He was by the merch table doing the routine meet and greet with the fans and didn't look disinterested or unhappy. He loves the fans, and we love him. The next set on the list was my real reason for going to this show.

Daryl Palumbo and Head Automatica(also NY natives) were by far the best part of the whole show. I've only seen Head Automatica play once before but I have seen Daryl many times before during his Glassjaw stint. Their set list was a perfect blend of their new album "Popaganda" and their debut album, "Decadence". They played all the fan favorites including "Beating Hearts Baby" and "Graduation Day" They got the crowd all riled up, excited and ready to go out and party afterwards. It was perfect, just perfect and everything I expected and then some.

After that I got ditched by my 2 cohorts who said they were going to the bathroom but instead went to go be teenies and stare at Gabe. But while that was going on, 30 Seconds to Mars had their intro. This intro was killer. It was entertaining and built up a ton of suspense before they played their first song. Now let me just say something for one sec (not that I'm already not, but hey I'm trying to be professional) I'm not the worlds biggest 30 seconds to mars fan because really, how can I take Jared Leto seriously? This band is pretty much a boy band that plays guitar. Also, lets talk about their fanbase. How does a band who has a pretty heavy undertone to their music have such a young fanbase. I mean I really didn't expect to bump into a bunch of mommies and daddies at the show. It was just wired.

Anyway ill tie this up. Go listen to MWC, Cobra Starship, and Head Automatica. Go see them if they are coming to a city near you, it will be worth the money.

So sit back and enjoy the view.
Jimi