EastScene

What do you get when you mix a singer who’s under the influence and lots of pre-teen girls out late on a school night? You get the All American Rejects concert last Wednesday. With their camera’s held high and their parents watching from the balcony, the kids definitely were given something to talk about at recess the next day.

The show kicked off with New Jersey pop-punkers Ace Enders (And A Million Different People). The band’s sound was really tight and their music was a really good match for The All American Rejects crowd. Arthur ‘Ace’ Enders, the lead vocalist, was really great at getting the crowd to participate; during the song “Bring Back Love,” he artfully turned the melody into a sing along with the audience. Overall they played an amazing set and I was sure to pick up their latest album titled When I Hit The Ground, which was released on Drive-Thru records last March.

Up next were the Shiny Toy Guns, a critically acclaimed rock-electronica band from Oklahoma. The crowd seemed to be confused by the change of pace as the Shiny Toy Guns have a bit of an edgier sound than that of Ace Enders and All American Rejects. Stunned and uninterested, the crowd nodded heads and talked amongst themselves for the majority of their set. However, in terms of their performance everything was top notch. Sisely Treasure, the female vocalist, was dynamite as she sang the selected pieces, specifically Ghost Town, their latest single. Gregori Petree, the lead male vocalist, was singing smoothly and effortlessly while playing guitar. All in all they sounded fantastic; unfortunately the crowd seemed to be caught off guard at the juxtaposition of sounds.

Then came the long awaited All American Rejects. From the minute lead vocalist Tyson Ritter stepped on stage, millions of digital screens showing the same teetering man in an orange shirt from a million different angles shot up into the air and didn’t come down for the entire length of their performance. In terms of the music the band sounded great and played a really entertaining set. Practically the entire audience was singing along to every word, stopping only to mention how attractive Tyson was or to check their multiple technologies, making sure one of them caught that wink or smile he flashed. That being said, band members definitely didn’t hold back when the opportunity came to indulge in a little face time with the fans, Tyson in particular. He appeared to be a tad tipsy and thus the sexual innuendo flowed freely from his fluctuating voice. He started into one of their most well known songs, Dirty Little Secrets as follows; “Are you dirty Toronto? If you’re dirty say ‘yeah!’ (yeah!) if you’re dirty say ‘hell yeah!’ (hell yeah!),” and I couldn’t help but think of the concerned parents sipping their beer in the balcony, watching their offspring flail in the audience, anticipating a very uncomfortable ride home.

Girls were relentlessly playing tug of war with a sweaty towel thrown by Tyson as I left the Phoenix Concert Theatre. It was definitely an eventful night, I had a great time and I would definitely see any of the bands again.