In addition, the band had announced that day that bassist Matt Wachter had left the band, which was incredibly heart-rending for me because Matt is an amazing guy and a great bassist, as well as an integral part of 30 Seconds To Mars. Transitions are hard, but it seemed more important than ever that night to see the band strong and forging ahead with replacement bassist Tim Kelleher, who had filled in for Matt previously. I was lucky enough to be able to see Matt backstage and say goodbye to him, so that made things a little easier as well.

But the show itself felt like an exercise in “launching forth into the deep,” so to speak, pushing forward with joyous, raucous abandon and refusing to look back and dwell. Despite being roughed up from his experiences in El Paso, Jared was on fire as always, refusing to take a back seat to soreness. They played eight songs from A Beautiful Lie, including R-Evolve, which he dedicated Matt after talking about how change was a gift and something that should be embraced. It was a beautiful, emotional, genuine moment. I don’t know how many in the crowd actually got it, but for those of us who needed to hear it, it was appreciated.

I thought that the set was incredibly high energy, and that Tim did really well all things considered. I’ve seen some people on the 30 Seconds To Mars message boards complain that the show wasn’t all that great, but I’m not sure what their standards are. I found it engrossing, entertaining, and especially in light of the stressful circumstances, well put together. I honestly think people refuse to consider the context of where they’re seeing the band first of all — playing as part of a festival tour isn’t the same as headlining your own theater tour. Also, playing in 2007 isn’t the same as playing in 2005, so naturally the show is going to grow and evolve. Either you grow and evolve with it, or you’re going to feel inherently dissatisfied. I think that was part of Jared’s message that night in a way as well, and I think some would do well to stop their bitching long enough to listen and decide if they still want to count themselves as fans or not.

Apparently, though, it’s not just the fans who have inexplicable standards when it comes to 30 Seconds To Mars. I had this review in the Dallas Morning News pointed out to me, and while I agree with the author’s general estimation of the type of kids found at the show (it was almost making me think of when they tried to do the Woodstock revival thing in the 90s), I found his review of 30 Seconds To Mars perplexing, especially this part:

In previous 30 Seconds to Mars gigs, Mr. Leto’s been the dominant dervish, but he’s always worked within and emphasized his collective even while lifting it with his emotive singing. Here, though, he let the audience yell half of his band’s eight songs, preached and prodded during and in between them, struck I-am-so-great poses under a solitary spotlight and held them way past pregnancy, and even threw out a solo version of “Was It a Dream?” as his band sucked down fluids backstage. His self-effacing crowd immersions are fine, but this kind of attention hogging is now making the act’s act suffer.

The author writes as though he’s seen several 30 Seconds To Mars shows. If that’s the case, surely he must realize that Jared singing solo is nearly omnipresent at 30 Seconds To Mars shows. Most often his choice is “Was It A Dream?” as well, though we’ve been treated to “The Story,” “Echelon,” and others. Also, the posing and posturing is nothing new either, and there are countless photos all over the Internet to attest to that. Also, it’s been Jared’s modus operandi for as long as I’ve been seeing them live to let the crowd sing as much as he can get away with, and then some.

Maybe I’ve just had the misfortune every one of my dozen-plus times seeing 30 Seconds To Mars to stumble across a mediocre and sub-par show with Jared at his worst, and therefore I have low standards. Though considering a good portion of the shows I have seen have been in Dallas, I’d assume I’ve seen whatever standard Taste of Chaos was being held to by this author. Or maybe I’m just “easy,” as I’ve said before, and I’m just not as critical as some.

However, that wasn’t my real issue with the review. My problem was the “how the mighty have fallen” tone to those remarks in particular, when the things he cites as supporting that contention are nothing new to 30 Seconds To Mars’ repertoire. In fact, in my eyes 30 Seconds To Mars has only taken the same live game they’ve been bringing for the past several years and once again elevated it to a new level, despite a crowded bill, diverse and unpredictable audience, and growing ranks of naysayers like this.

Really, what does playing hard-to-get net a listener in the end? Smug satisfaction that only the purest and finest tunes will grace your aural landscape? It’s not that I think everyone should love all music. If bubblegum pop, mall “emo” pop punk, or over the top eurodance don’t appeal to you, don’t listen to them. But even if the lyrics are trite or the tunes lightweight, that doesn’t demean its value to those who do enjoy it. If it makes me dance and laugh and have a good time for half an hour, then I’m a fan, even if the music itself doesn’t change my life–if that makes me easy, then guilty as charged. I take something from most of the bands I hear, and that is often enough to endear me.

That’s not to say there aren’t some bands who I absolutely can’t stomach, or bands I’ve given a try to and just do nothing for me that I won’t go out of my way to see. However, I’m not going to turn my nose up just because a band just wants to get together and have fun instead of change the world, or if they are trying to change the world and their message just doesn’t connect with me. Still, I try not to just dismiss them with, “Oh, they suck,” or whatever the equivalent gut reaction might be. What good comes from throwing away precious minutes of your time that you invested in listening? When that happens, I try to get what I can from the experience still, or let it go and not waste my time with negativity. (Granted, every once in a while it’s still just going to happen, but if you go in with a mindset that you’re going to like what you hear, and not that they have to prove something to you, it will happen far less often.)

That kind of attitude makes music as a whole much more rewarding for me, and keeps avenues open to that can lead to places that I otherwise never would have traveled. Maybe in the end, that’s what being easy is really about — finding the good things, the connection point in any song or performance and taking that away with me as a positive. It keeps music fresh and amazing for me at all times, and that’s the best feeling of all.

HIM announced their “No Sleep ‘Til Halloween” tour on August 4, 2006, with Kill Hannah, LostProphets, and Papa Roach supporting. The tour was to run for several weeks in October, ending on Halloween. At the time I was kind of disappointed, because it seemed the tour was pretty much concentrated in the North/Northeast, but I figured that was because a) HIM came to the South/Southwest on their spring tour, or b) they were planning on adding dates to this fall tour. I was, of course, hoping for the latter. Tickets for the first leg went on sale on August 12.

(It should also be noted here that Kill Hannah and LostProphets would be touring together with The Rasmus until the beginning of October, then they would then join up with HIM on October 18. Kill Hannah was also to play several dates the first week of October in Canada supporting 30 Seconds To Mars. I don’t know why it should be noted, but it seems important for the sake of completeness.)

So. At the end of August, an astute friend of mine (hi DeShawn) pointed out that there were suddenly new HIM/Kill Hannah dates listed on TicketMaster, including one for November 4 in Kansas City. Becca and I immediately jumped on these tickets and danced with glee at the thought of getting to see Kill Hannah again, and I was grateful for the chance to get to see HIM again as well. We had seen HIM in May in St. Louis, and they had Aiden open for them. Aiden puts on such an aggressive, amazing show that I felt sort of let-down by HIM’s mellower, more hands-off stage show, and I felt as though I hadn’t truly appreciated the experience, so I was looking forward to seeing HIM again and truly appreciating them. I had been a Kill Hannah fan, but after finally seeing them live opening for 30 Seconds To Mars, I fell in love hard (as had most of my friends) and we were falling over ourselves to get a chance to see them live again. So, needless to say, this concert was the source of a great deal of excitement for many reasons.

Tickets in hand (literally) several weeks later, we began to make travel plans to Kansas City. Reservations were made, modes of transportation aquired, money put forth. Then a few days later, while browsing TicketMaster, I noticed some of the other November dates had unexplainedly been cancelled. This caused me to raise an eyebrow. (You know where this is going, don’t you?) Then, the fateful email from TicketMaster arrived on September 20:

Hello, this is Ticketmaster Customer Service with an important alert for
your upcoming event. HIM, scheduled at MEMORIAL HALL on SATURDAY
NOVEMBER 4 , 2006 , at 6:00 PM, has been cancelled.

Your credit card will automatically be credited the ticket price and
convenience charges, and should post to your account within 7 to 10
business days. Please note, the $4.60 per order processing fee and any
ticket Fast or UPS delivery charges are non-refundable.

Well.

We were taken aback, to say the least, especially since HIM hadn’t even officially announced those dates! “Ah-ha,” said I. “Someone got a little eager, put the tickets on sale before the thing was officially announced, and it’s a technicality.” I figured we were going to be screwed out of $5 in fees because that’s how Ticketmaster is, and we’d have to re-order our tickets and all would be well.

This idea was bolstered by the email I received from the HIM Street Team on September 22:

HIM have announced a second run of tour dates for their upcoming North American Tour. The dates begin Nov. 3 in Denver, CO, and route the band through the midwest and into the southeast.

The announcement then appeared on heartagram.com, though strangely enough if you go back there now, the announcement is dated September 10. I don’t remember it being there then, but okay. Regardless, this was announced after the cancellation emails. So we wait on the edge of our seats for news, and I constantly check TicketMaster, expecting to see the big red CANCELLED next to our date replaced by an On Sale date at any time. I was completely baffled as to what was going on. Were they going to be doing the second leg of the tour or not?

Imagine my shock when on September 26 I found that those red CANCELLEDs had begun to multiply, and were now next to several of the October dates! The next time I checked my email, this was waiting:

HIM have announced the cancellation of their fall tour. The band will not be playing scheduled U.S. shows in favor of entering the recording studio (see canceled dates below).

HIM hope fans will not be let down, but rather will look forward to seeing them back on the road with new songs to share. The band have been steadily writing material for their forthcoming album and are eager to start preliminary rehearsal of very early tracks. HIM have not been able to test any new material due to their busy touring and promotion schedule. This fall will be the first opportunity for the band members to talk and work out new HIM material for a 2007 release!

Singer Ville Valo explains the band’s decision: “Our dearest fellowship of the Heartagram, you haven’t seen the last of us yet. We just want to keep it fresh for you and stump you with new material. I didn’t feel that I could do that without rehearsing some of this stuff that’s stuck in my heart. We’re happy to have new fans come aboard the ship, but I feel we’ve got to keep it exciting and new. We’ve started writing and I can’t wait for you guys to hear what we’re working on.”

The band have spent the last year touring non-stop behind Dark Light. Most recently completing a successful spring U.S. headlining tour with stops at Jimmy Kimmel Live and Last Call With Carson Daly along the way.

I was, to say the least, outraged. I felt like I’d been slapped in the face. Most bands, when they have to cancel dates (let alone a whole tour!) at least have the decency to sound apologetic. HIM makes it sound like they’ve done us a huge favor, and we should be grateful. That isn’t a very sympathetic attitude toward your fans. It’s arrogant.

Yes, I know HIM has been touring for the majority of the months since Dark Light came out last fall. That’s what a band does. It tours. Or, I should say, it announces tours, and then it tours. I’m sure the three bands that now are scrambling to book gigs after having their fall plans shredded could tell a little bit about extensive touring. Maybe they all should just pack up and go back home and record another album as well?

The amount of shows they’ve played don’t sway me. It’s nothing special. They could have toured 365 days of the last year, or they could have toured for a week. That isn’t the point. The point is, if you want to record an album, record an album. If you announce a tour, have enough respect for your fans (and your supporting acts) to follow through on the commitment. If you still want to record, do it after you get off tour or rent studio space in various cities on off days (as Aiden did to prepare for and record their upcoming EP). Or if you absolutely have to cancel, try to sound at least a little contrite for screwing everyone who had counted on the dates out of their plans. When 30 Seconds To Mars had to cancel their week of Canadian dates at the beginning of October (thus in the process helping Kill Hannah get what was probably a delightful double screwing) they were incredibly apologetic and worked as quickly as possible to get make-up dates set up (half of them have been rescheduled, the others still pending). Aiden also cancelled their UK tour earlier this year (ironically enough to tour with HIM), and they are now in the process of making those dates up, even though that has kept them on the road for over a year straight. Those are just two examples I’m personally aware of (thanks to Tanya, who reminded me of them).

The point here? Live up to your commitments. That’s what other bands do. Or if there are genuine, personal/sensitive reasons for needing the time off, don’t lie to the fans that feed and clothe you with flip excuses. Ask for privacy and for the respect that you obviously already feel entitled to, and your fans will give it to you. They love you. They are already falling over themselves to forgive this. They deserve better than the way they’ve been treated.

Something about that email, Ville’s quote, the reactions from the supporting bands, and the way this whole business went down just doesn’t sit right with me. I would be willing to wager that things aren’t really as they’ve been presented to us. I doubt we’ll ever know the full truth, and I’m sure it could be argued whether or not we even are owed any truth at all. Regardless of the true circumstances, the way it was handled has left a bad taste, and it won’t be quickly forgotten. As for forgiveness… it remains to be seen. A good beginning would be for the band to even ask.

Regardless, last night I was at the CD Release party for The Weeping Tree’s debut CD, Wake Up Honesty. They had a great lineup: Luciano Outfit, River City Ransom, afterEIGHT, and of course the men of the evening, The Weeping Tree. It was a great show, and it hit on several things that make shows particularly enjoyable to me.

I had never seen afterEIGHT perform before, and I wasn’t sure what to expect from them. What they delivered was incredibly musical metal that incorporated the screams and heavy riffs that are popular in the genre today but wasn’t overpowered by any of it. They really are a complete deal, and their stage presence is so energetic, so fun. They swing guitars, jump around, run all over the stage, interact with the crowd, and are obviously incredibly passionate about their music. It just bleeds out into the crowd, and it pulled me right in. They really know how to put on a show. Also, they played a cover of, shockingly, “My Girl” by the Temptations. Not something you expect to hear a metal band play, but as I have said several times before, that is one of my favorite kinds of covers. They put their own unique touch on it, then segued into another one of their songs, picking up the tempo back to the harder rock. I of course didn’t know any of the words to any of their other songs, so it was a welcome way to feel like I was a full part of the experience to be able to sing along with a song I did know. Brilliant, brilliant stuff.

Speaking of putting on a show, The Weeping Tree took it to a new level last night. Instead of jeans and t-shirts, the guitarists all wore black shirts with red ties (though the ties didn’t last long), and the lead singer was wearing a white t-shirt with a black tie. Drummers, of course, never wear clothes, and their drummer was no exception. But it gave the impression that you were seeing something special, a show. They had a little bit of performance art on the stage with a girl recreating the cover to their CD, and plus a great (it turns out improved) keyboard intro to the first song. Again, to me that sets the mood, along with lights and fog machines, and so on, and adds to the music.

I’ve seen The Weeping Tree perform about half a dozen times, give or take, and despite broken strings and sound mix snafus, I think this was the best I’ve ever seen them. They had energy, they drew the crowd in with the ever-important audience participation, and the whole thing was a production. Thirty Seconds To Mars often talks about the same thing, that they choose very carefully the colors they wear, and what they do onstage, the lights, and the music, to set a mood and give people not just a bunch of guys up on stage playing music, but a full experience for the senses. I really got this impression from what The Weeping Tree did last night as well.

To cap off a great show, then, The Weeping Tree got their labelmates afterEight to grab instruments and come onstage to play along with the last song. I don’t think any of them were actually plugged in, but at that point it didn’t matter. They were just out there to jam and have fun with their friends, and it got to the point where some of the guys were grabbing acoustic guitars and whatever else was available. It felt spontaneous and fun, it was mayhem to watch, and it was obvious those guys were having an absolute blast. The crowd absolutely ate it up. Again, I felt like I’d seen something very special that night, and it’s that impression that sticks with you. To me, that kind of impression is the most important thing a band can do with their shows. It’s what leaves people coming back again and again for more.

Another of my favorite recent examples of this kind of collaboration was when My Chemical Romance and The Used covered Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” to also benefit victims of the tsunami in Indonesia. Love them or hate them on their own, that collaboration was one of my favorite musical moments. I especially like the video, because I think it illustrates some of my previous post’s points perfectly. They are obviously having such a great time, and that song is one that is so accessible to even kids who weren’t born when it was released. There’s something that’s just giddy-inducing about watching two bands just jam together and have a great time with a song they obviously both enjoy.

The comments to the previous post got me thinking more about covers, and some recent covers to come out. Lenneth mentioned Heart’s cover of “Stairway To Heaven” sounding exactly the same as the original, and she reminded me of two songs I was hearing frequently on my radio station of choice, Z104.5. Both Limp Bizkit’s cover of “Behind Blue Eyes,” and The Ataris’ cover of “The Boys of Summer,” at least to my ears, sound virtually indiscernible from the originals. My gut reaction to that is to ask, “Why bother?” Then again, I answered that question before, too. There could have been a particular affinity for the song, or it could have been chosen for an express purpose. It has meaning then for the artist, and likely for the listener who has never heard the originals, but perhaps not so much someone who has heard the originals.

Danielle mentioned U2’s cover of the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” as one of her favorites, and I have to agree. The fact that the song is recorded live only adds to the energy of the tribute and really shows the influence of such music on early U2. “Helter Skelter” is one of those songs that is covered often, although I think the stalwart trivia fact is that another Beatles tune, “Yesterday,” is actually the most often covered song out there. (I’m not sure how you determine that, actually, but I’ve heard it enough times and Google seems to back me up.) It’s at the very least a tribute-album staple (which, by the way, are of course the mother-lodes for cover tunes, both the good and the bad).

I couldn’t resist revisiting this subject so soon. I had such a great time on Monday putting together my block of cover tunes for my show (for the curious, the block included: Crazy Train by Bullet For My Valentine, Tainted Love by Alkaline Trio, Roxanne by Fall Out Boy, Message in a Bottle by 30 Seconds To Mars, and Rebel Yell by Kill Hannah, among others). I may have to put together another block tonight. Any suggestions? Or since I touched on tribute albums, are there any favorite tribute albums, or one you wish would be put out? I definitely intend to continue the discussion tonight on the air at Radio Ugly, 8-10 pm Eastern, so check it out!

My friend Becca and I went out this weekend to a local venue and saw this great local band, Crooked X. They’re all about 12-13 years old, and they play metal music like you wouldn’t believe. They’re more talented than many musicians two and three times their ages. Most of the music they play is original, but they did a couple cover tunes. The first was the song that had endeared them to me the first time I saw them, a scorching take on Metallica’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls.” Their second cover was incredibly inspired; in medley with another song that I can’t remember now, they played a metal take on Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In The Wall.”

If the novelty and sheer jaw-drop factor of such young kids playing such mature licks weren’t enough to impress, their treatment of these two classic songs clinched the deal. It also reminded me of why it is that I love cover songs so much (when done properly) and why I think they can be a very important part of a band’s repertoire.

To do a cover song properly, in my opinion, takes a very delicate mix of elements. The song has to be at least somewhat recognizable to the listener to be an effective cover song; if you completely rearrange a song it almost ceases to be a “cover” in the strictest sense of the word. I’m actually listening to a Wyclef Jean “cover” of Queen’s “Another One Bites The Dust” right now that makes me think of this, even though it’s probably more a remix than a cover. Secondly, the cover needs to have a bit of the personality of the band in it. Whether it’s taking a prog rock tune and turning it a bit metal, adding some synth where there was none, or just adding some signature licks, there has to be something besides just a rote regurgitation of a song we could simply go home and listen to on the original CD. (Of course this goes for playing just about any song live as well, but it also applies to recorded covers.)

For me, the true benefit of covers comes in concert. For any band, a cover is a fun way to pay tribute to an influence and just have a good time. Musicians are music fans too, and there is a great deal of fun to be had playing a favorite song and putting yourself in the shoes of an admired musician. It could be argued that playing another band’s music is unwise, when you want audiences to hear your original music. You have limited time, and want them to get their money’s worth. However, for opening bands, I think one well-chosen cover song can work wonders even the best original material might not necessarily.

At many of the shows I’ve been at, as I mentioned before in my entry about opening acts, I have found that the fans there to see the headlining act are often ambivalent toward the openers, if not overtly hostile. The majority of the time they have never heard of, or at least heard the music of, the opening bands, and that takes away a lot of the engagement. When they know the music, you don’t have to fight for their attention; they’re already anticipating and waiting. A cover song that is well-known, engaging, and that can be given a bit of characteristic sound of the performing band can reel in that ambivalent and inattentive crowd in a heartbeat.

I have seen this happen several times. The Vanished and Kill Hannah both have versions of “Rebel Yell” that whip crowds into a frenzy. When Crooked X sang Metallica, the polite yet somewhat listless crowd snapped to attention. Several people around me at Warped were obviously not sure what to do with Gym Class Heroes, but they launched into the familiar chorus of Fall Out Boy’s “Dance Dance,” and suddenly those fans were there with them, and they really got into the rest of the set. Aiden recorded “Die Die My Darling” by one of their major influences, The Misfits, and have been performing it in concert this whole year, exposing fans who had never even heard of them before to the music and making them curious about hearing more of the originals as well as engaging Misfits fans who may not have wanted to give them a chance.

Cover songs a great way to forge a connection with the audience, to give the unfamiliar band onstage something in common with people that didn’t come to see them and often times see them only as half an hour more until the real reason they came. It invests them, and then they’re hooked and waiting to see what will be played next, and are that much more likely to want to hear more. I know I can’t possibly be the only fan that first got hooked by a great cover, then reeled in by great original music backing it up, then left with the CD from the merch booth because by the time the set was done, I couldn’t get enough.

I will say that MTV does know how to throw a party. MTV I think has become more of a “lifestyle network” network than a “music network,” and that does come out in the VMAs. You get a very interesting cross-section of stars from the entertainment and music industries, plus various stunts, sights, and sounds that make (hopefully) must-see television. However, I think that because of the sheer number of irons MTV has in the cultural fire, it puts them out of touch with the very thing around which they center the VMAs.

This is my opinion, and maybe it will come off as sour grapes, or the rantings of an unhappy fan, but I like to think of it just as as disillusioned fan of music videos and of music in general.

Being that MTV has severely limited its scope as far as music videos (and even actual music programming) go, they pick and choose the artists they want to get behind. Then, to the detriment and exclusion of any others, they proceed to saturate the already meager share given to music and videos with those artists. Call them “darlings,” call them what you will, but if you aren’t one of MTV’s chosen, for whatever reason, better luck next time, and why not try that red-headed stepchild MTV2 down the hallway, whose award doesn’t even merit a mention on the big show, even though it was simulcast on both networks?

Yes, so let’s talk about the elephant in the room, because I know many of you (especially those who know me) think this is really about 30 Seconds To Mars. You win; it is in many ways. I’ll address simply those 30STM fans who are crushed that all their voting for “The Kill” in the Best Rock Video category seemed to be in vain. Here is my take on it: I don’t think all the votes in the world would have won 30 Seconds To Mars that Best Rock Video award. The inclusion of “The Kill” in this category was a huge thing. It was a great honor, and an acknowledgement (belated as it was) by MTV that the MTV2 juggernaut that was blowing up the charts in every Rock outlet in the US and helping catapult A Beautiful Lie to gold and creating a buzz that gave 30 Seconds To Mars the legitimacy that mainstream media seemed determined to deny them could no longer be ignored. To be placed alongside the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Green Day was also an amazing thing. But the fact that the video’s technical merits were completely ignored seemed odd. The nomination was a small gesture; granted, it is a small gesture that can translate into huge dividends if played correctly, but in the end it was just that. A gesture.

While fans were told they were given input into the results of the main VMA categories, the decision was always going to rest in the hands of MTV. And would MTV give the award to a band they all but ignored for the majority of the year, until “The Kill” got so big and dominated MTV2 so much that it couldn’t be ignored, thus acknowledging that they had yet again missed the boat when it came to the cutting edge of pop culture that they claim to be on? No. It was always going to go to one of the bands that MTV has openly supported, and it did. Just as any radio or television station programs for their own benefit and promotion, so does MTV. There is no independent Academy to oversee these awards. They are MTV’s awards, and MTV gives the awards to who will benefit MTV the most.

The MTV2 award, I am willing to believe is a different beast. It seems MTV2 is run with a different philosophy, and while politics exist in entertainment no matter where you go, it seems MTV2 in general is more democratic and more organic as far as what is popular on the street-level. You see the newest and greatest here, you see what “everyone is talking about,” rather than the song that is so ubiquitous that you don’t even hear it any more when it plays again. So that one was open. That was was always touted as for the fans, by the fans, just as the Viewer’s Choice award was. What I’m wondering is why the award didn’t even merit an acknowledgement on the main telecast? Or even a mention on the 3-hour “extra” Overdrive simulcast? They cut to a short clip from 30 Seconds To Mars talking in the press room, but there was no information as to what they were talking about. Even the two “Video Game VMAs” got acknowledgement on Overdrive. The Ringtone of the Year award got airtime.

I think this, if anything, shines a glaring light on MTV’s priorities and practices, and was far more disappointing to me as a fan than any loss. Maybe this isn’t news to anyone. For a brief moment, however, I thought that perhaps with these VMAs we might see a bit of a shake-up of the status quo. However, as far as the awards themselves go, there were no real surprises, and nothing that truly moved me.

That’s not to say I wasn’t moved or entertained by the show at all. I watched it on the online simulcast, and then watched highlight clips of what I didn’t see on that simulcast. I was truly happy for Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, and The All-American Rejects — all bands that I really enjoy, and I loved all of their videos that were nominated. I also think Fall Out Boy deserves the “best dressed” award for the night. Very classy stuff, and fun. Really, though, the only reason to truly watch the VMAs are the live performances. MTV has a history of putting together odd couples and truly memorable live performances, and this year was no different. Having the Raconteurs and various guests play through the night was inspired. I enjoyed AAR, as I always do. Panic! At The Disco’s performance was a feast for the eyes, and The Killers put on an amazing cap to the show. The two performance highlights for me were OK Go’s treadmill-dance (my cynicism toward MTV was apparent when I actually pondered to a friend how on earth this got on MTV to begin with, it was so fresh and different), and then the pre-show unveiling of The Black Parade to the world.

I am so excited about this new direction for My Chemical Romance. As a big fan of prog rock and concept albums in general, I have been curious about it since I started reading interviews where the band talked about the album and the project. Then when I heard about their “secret show” where they played as The Black Parade, my interest reached fever pitch. Their live performance did not disappoint. The music was reminiscent of Queen and The Who, and it was beautiful and melancholy and soaring and pure. It’s a direction that bands like 30 Seconds To Mars have gone in, and I think that My Chemical Romance are just taking it to another level. I can’t wait to hear this whole album. I quipped that this was going to be Sgt. Pepper for the emo generation… but maybe that isn’t so far off. And maybe that isn’t a bad thing.

Musicians are such creative people. They express themselves not only through their writing and music, but visually, through choreography, art, humor, acting… Videos allow them to incorporate these things into their music and give it dimension and scope that perhaps hadn’t even been conceptualized when it was created. Music videos need to be seen, and trying to insist that it is a trendsetter and the pulse of the music world when it conveniently ignores whatever isn’t on its carefully controlled and coiffed playlist will put MTV in line for cultural irrelevance. It’s already a joke to many music afficianados, who only stop rolling their eyes at MTV long enough to support a band they feel very strongly about if they thought it could really help them reach the next level of success. This, dear 30 Seconds To Mars fans, is where I think all those thousands of votes you logged with the Best Rock Video effort were not in vain. Even if the award was out of reach to begin with, you made your voice heard. It’s been said that there is no such thing as bad publicity, and the ardent and vocal support given this campaign can only be a good thing. As the rest of the world has found out before, MTV knows you are there, they know your power, and they know where your loyalties lie. It’s now up to MTV to decide what it is going to do with that potential audience — if anything. This is why I voted my ass off just like everyone else, and never felt like I was wasting my time.

It could be that MTV chooses to continue to willfully ignore the cries of those of us who agree with Lou Reed and the countless others who are begging for more variety, more originality, more music on MTV. If that’s the case, then the people who are putting their eyes, ears, and money into entertainment will go elswhere to find what they need and want. Maybe in a few years we will all be glued to the YouTube awards.

It’s not that the VMAs are meaningless, or that those who won them did so undeservedly. I just believe that to entertain for even a moment that the VMAs are subjective or even representative of music video as a whole is laughable. I would love to see the Video Music Awards once again be a true mirror of the art of the music video and the creativity and hard work of musicians, rather than a self-congratulatory back-slapping orgy for MTV.

The battle had come down to three bands: The 3 Godfathers (couldn’t find a link, someone help?), One Night Scam, and Fighting Tomorrow. The three bands all had decidedly different flavors of “rock” to them: The 3 Godfathers are a bit mellower rock, One Night Scam are pop-punk, and Fighting Tomorrow are hard rock/metal. Each band had brought its own contingent of fans, as well. On the line were a music store gift certificate, recording time at a studio, and the band would have their press kit personally delivered to a VP of A&R from Lava Records. No small prize.

So how do you judge three very diverse bands in a “battle” of the bands? One of my friends and I had been talking about the results of one of the heats, and she had complained that the band she liked had better songs, but the band that won just had a better stage show. To me, that made all the sense in the world. If it were simply a matter of whose songs were better, or whose record was better, you could have a songwriting competition or put their singles to “battle” on a radio call-in show. A battle of the bands in this sense is all about the live performance — granted, you have to have at least decent songs and somewhat talented musicians to even get to the point where performance even matters — and the performance is what should, in my opinion, separate the winners from the losers. This may or may not have been how the judges went about their work, but it’s what stands out the most for me, and what I want to talk about a bit more in depth.

When a band takes the stage to play, they confront one of three kinds of audiences. There is could be an enthusiastically supportive and open audience, an indifferent audience, or a hostile audience. More likely, you’ll have a combination thereof. The first thing the band does when they step on the stage and put fingers to strings will dictate what that crowd does, especially whether the indifferent ones standing around will engage and become supportive or turn hostile and demand you off the stage.

Few things disappoint me more than bands who stand up on stage and play like The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. If I wanted to just hear the music, I could have crammed myself in a crowded bar with my iPod. People who go to a show, want to see a show. This was where both One Night Scam and Fighting Tomorrow, in my opinion, stood out. One Night Scam had a constant banter with the crowd, and they kept them engaged. Whether it was call and response, hand clapping, or playing for screams from the girls with on-stage antics, they never gave the people time to get bored or look away. My favorite such antic came at the end, during “Put Up Or Shut Up,” where the lead singer/bassist went no-hands and the two guitarists took over bass duties. It’s so fun every time I see it. (Next time I’ll get pictures.) Combining this with the talent and quality songs that are requisite to get to this level in such a competition regardless, you ended up with a very entertaining package that I thought would be hard to beat.

Fighting Tomorrow followed One Night Scam on the opposing stage. They have a bit of theatrics to their entrance, with music to hype the crowd as they take the stage. Their in-your-face metal music comes with a similar stage show, with the lead singer immediately out in the crowd and bringing the music to them, rather than screaming it out over them as so many metal acts do. The whole group really throws their entire bodies into what they do, and that enthusiasm and passion bleeds out onto the crowd as well, especially when they do it within arm’s reach. None of the band members flinched away from crowd contact, or eye contact with the crowd, and that give and take tends to whip front rows into a frenzy of energy. This was especially apparent when in the middle of one of their songs, the power to the stage suddenly, inexplicably, went out. The band didn’t stop playing. The guys jammed just as hard sans sound as they did with the amps cranked up, though the only sounds were the drums and the ardent singing of their dedicated fans.

I had to stand back and just take in the surreal scene, of such momentum in the music that it was almost like a runaway train — neither the band nor the crowd could stop it. It was a poetic moment, and also an amusing one, watching these boys thrash on stage to the sounds of drums and nothing else. It spoke volumes about them as musicians and as people, however. Eventually the band gave up hope of the power coming back in time to save the song and quit playing. Power was restored minutes later, and after an impromptu poll of the fans, Fighting Tomorrow started the interrupted song over and finished their set.

When they finished, I said to my friend that if anything, Fighting Tomorrow had won the chutzpah award. At first glance, one might think that having such a calamity occur with the eyes of judges and A&R reps and dozens of fans upon you would be the end after such a strong performance from the competition minutes before. I felt the opposite, though. This gave Fighting Tomorrow a chance to demonstrate their poise under pressure, and also give a real show. The show didn’t even stop when the sound did, and to me, that spoke volumes. I like to think it did for the judges as well. Fighting Tomorrow were declared the winners.

I can’t help but think that One Night Scam will come out of this as winners as well. They have such an appealing sound (I bought their album after seeing them in the first round, and I haven’t been able to stop listening to it) and such fun to watch that I think they will be turning the heads of the people that matter soon, if they haven’t already. Like I said on Friday, even if they didn’t win the prize, the fact remains that a record label rep saw them, and that is more than most bands will ever get. It’s a start.

Other favorite examples of connecting with the audience for me come from some of my favorite bands, but the best is by far Aiden. I play their CD a lot for friends, and many inevitably turn their nose up at the intensity of the music, or the lyric matter, or even Wil’s voice. Then, they get a chance to see Aiden in concert. The minute Aiden hits the stage, it’s as though you’ve been punched in the face. Guitars are flying, Wil is in the front row’s faces, and there is an electric connection that does not stop until they leave the stage and a wrung-out, exhausted crowd in their wake. Capturing the attention and energy of the apathetic people in the crowd turns the energy in such a way that the hostile people are overpowered and the audience dynamic as a whole can turn from negative to positive in the course of one song.

When I was volunteering at a music conference earlier this summer, there was a listening panel where bands played their demos for various music industry types, and got critiqued. Several people who had been in the panel told me later that the refrain from several of the industry people was, “We’ve heard this before, a hundred times.” There are only so many songs you can write, so many chords you can play. It’s when you get out on stage, in front of 20 or 2,000, and what you do when you get out there, that makes all the difference. If you stand on stage and strum your guitar and sing, you are likely to bore your audience into apathy or worse. If you engage your audience, physically and with your music and words, you can make your performances an experience, one that they feel as though they were part of. It makes every show different and special, for you as well as the fans.

I’d be curious to hear about other examples of bands — either national or local — that really give a show when they play on stage, and what makes the live experience with that band special. I feel like the things I’ve described are pretty universal; are they more subjective than I thought?

So I hopped over to the online CD listening “party” to find out.

There were only about 3 dozen people in the actual AIM chat room, though I can’t help but think there must have been more listening. Aiden had promoted the event heavily on their myspace, so there were a lot of Aiden fans there — actually, a lot of them seemed more interested in talking about Aiden than the event at hand. I guess that’s to be expected, though. That, and the inevitable Victory-bashing were interspersed with some genuinely interesting comments from the band, as well as some fun (breakdown warning!) stuff.

The chat, of course, wasn’t the main event, though. I’m pretty sure we got to listen to the whole CD, though there were some streaming problems on my end. I was immediately drawn in by the intensity and the energy of the music. My first thought was that I couldn’t wait to see them live. Their guitars bring to mind the intensity that I love so much from, for instance, Aiden’s “Knife Blood Nightmare,” and they keep that intensity up through the whole album. Sure, it ebbs a little at times into a bit more melodic, slow terrain to kind of give listeners a breather, but it never lasts long. The title track (and first single) is a very good example of this. You can hear it streaming on their myspace, among other places.

The thing that amazed me the most about this album was that for the virtually nonstop intensity of the music, it never got repetitive. The guitar riffs and licks were innovative and creative, and the vocals were clear and strong. This wasn’t a muddy, overproduced screamfest. There is some serious talent here, and they bring a lyricism and musicality to this genre that I’ve found often missing. The songs themselves are dynamic, best showcased by the final track of the album, “The Meaning And The Journey.” It runs the entire gamut of the band’s diverse sound, and is a great end-note to the album.

I’m looking forward to listening to the album again. I’ll be buying it tomorrow for certain, but if you aren’t convinced, they are having another listening party at 3 pm, which you can access at the Victory Records site or at Victory’s social networking site, victorme.com. This album is definitely worth giving a chance, and I am excited about catching On The Last Day live at some point. It’s pretty refreshing to encounter a band and an album that actually lives up to all the hype that precedes it.

Anyone else heard any of the songs yet? What do you think?

What I do mean, is that if you paid $25 to see Angsty and the Screamos, and there are three bands opening for them, for god’s sake get your money’s worth and show up to see those openers! There is likely at least one local band that could really use your eyes and ears, plus a couple up-and-coming acts (one of which will likely be the one those people who are in line at 9 am are there to see).

Now, having said this, it is highly unlikely you will love every opening act on a particular bill on a particular night. I have only had this happen once (Broke, Men, Women and Children, and Keating opening for 30 Seconds To Mars). But you’ve already paid the money. All you have left to invest is your time. Hang out, text message your friends, people watch, take in the experience, make some new friends to text message while watching the boring opening acts at the next show. I guarantee you, though, at some point you’re going to be standing there while some band you’ve never heard of is doing their thing on stage, and you’ll find yourself nodding your head. Or the lead singer will say or do something that catches your eye. And by the end of the set you’re going, “Okay, why does my radio station never play these guys, and where can I hear more?” This is what these bands live and breathe for, because then you will hopefully go over to their merch booth and plunk down $10 and buy their CD, then go home and tell all your friends about it. Or you’ll add their MySpace and tell all your friends. Or at least you’ll tell those friends you were just text messaging. The important thing is, the word gets out and up-and-coming talent gets support while you have just doubled your bang for your buck. Maybe you’ll hit it lucky and go triple, or more.

Some of my favorite bands were opening-act discoveries; for instance: Aiden, The Weeping Tree, The Vanished, and People In Planes. Granted, I’ve also had to suffer through some pretty bad acts that will remain nameless, but that “wasted” 30-40 minutes is soon forgotten. However, there is no feeling quite like when a completely unfamiliar band’s music just “clicks” with you. It’s as though you’re in a big, empty house at night, and you manage to fumble and find yet another light switch to another room that had previously been dark. It’s a whole new world of little details to discover in that room, and who knows what still-dark doorways lead from it.

All of what I said above also applies to staying to see subsequent acts if you were those people in line at 7 am to see one of the openers. You never know, that band you thought sucked on the radio might turn out to be amazing live, and you might end up seeing them in a new light. Of, if you’ve never given them a chance, now is the time. Tonight, for instance, I was at a local “battle of the bands,” and the final performer was a rapper named PDA. I wrinkled my nose and said, “eww, I don’t like rap,” but I ended up hanging around and had the best time listening to him. He was an amazing performer, and one of the best acts of the night. You just never know.

There is no greater favor you can do for yourself than by getting your money’s worth and showing up to see every band on the bill when you buy a concert ticket. Besides, you never know. In six months, when that opener you blew off is at the top of the charts, you may be kicking yourself for not seeing them when you had the chance!