Streetlight Manifesto - Show Review

This marks the 24^th time I had seen Streetlight Manifesto. To be honest I was a little apathetic going into the show considering the last few times I had seen the band they were somewhat lackluster. However, this night would prove to be perhaps the best performance I had ever seen the band put on in the past 5 years.

After waiting for my photographer/best friend, we entered the House of Blues only to find out we missed Dan Potthast, which was a bummer. After realizing this sadness, we headed down to the pit to catch the Wonder Years set. We waited a brief moment before they took the stage and within seconds we were hit with a barrage of hardcore kids jumping all over the place. I wasn’t bothered all too much by it as I’m used to that kind of thing, but all the people who were at show solely for Streetlight Manifesto were pretty pissed off towards the end of the set. At one point the lead singer had to address a homophobic remark that one of the people at the barricade yelled to the band. Overall the band put on a solid set and some kids had fun while others didn’t.

At this point I headed up stairs for some fresh air only to find Dan Potthast playing a second set at the merch table for all the people who had missed his first set earlier in the evening. Shelby and I caught about 4 songs, one of which being “Speed Bumps” by Dan’s band Mu330. Dan had drawn so large of an audience the House of Blues staffed was pissed as one of the major doorways was completely blocked, thus creating a possible fire hazard as the security put it. Luckily Dan’s set had wrapped up before any action was taken.

A few minutes after everyone had cleared out of the merch area the Supervillains began to play. While the band is comprised of talented musicians, I heard enough songs about weed and pussy during their set to last me a lifetime. Their set took its toll on me and I exited the main floor to the upstairs balcony once again to lose my self in a sea of underage smokers and drunken flirting. Clearly, the people watching kept me very entertained for the next 30 minutes or so.

Then just as I was about to cave to boredom Streetlight Manifesto came on and began to melt the faces of everyone at the House of Blues. The horns were the tightest they’ve ever been and Tomas was displaying energy in such a way it was as if everyone was getting a glimpse into what he may have looked like playing in Catch 22 over a decade earlier. The set list itself was impressive drawing from the band’s two albums of material while even fitting in a few Keasbey Nights numbers into the fix, something that I was surprised by. You figure if you were going to take the time to re-record an album in its entirety you’d play those songs more often in your live show. However, up until now Streetlight Manifesto had refrained from playing a majority of the songs off of Keasbey Nights in their live show. I was a happy camper to say the least to be able to hear both “Sick and Sad” as well as “1234 1234” in the same set. If anything, their set may be one that won’t be topped by any other band this year, which I have no problem with.

-Armando Olivas with photographs by Shelby Jacobson