Motion City Soundtrack / JamisonParker

live in Chicago (2003)

Scott Heisel

It had been over a year since I had gotten to see Motion City Soundtrack. That's about 364 days too long, in my book. The boys from Minneapolis didn't let me down in their performance, but sadly their opening acts left something to be desired.

First up were fellow Minnesotans Attention, featuring ex-members of The Stereo. Their stage presence was about as cardboard-cutout as one's could get, and their music didn't do much to overcome the hurdle of originality placed in front of them. Just another run-of-the-mill emotional pop punk band that isn't breaking any ground. I remember hearing this band's very first set of demos a few years ago and being super impressed; what happened?

Up next were Illinois residents The Red Hot Valentines. I've never liked them and this performance did nothing to sway me. More boring cheez-pop where every song sounds the same, literally - they're even all the same tempo! If I were my little sister I'd be all over this, but as it is I'll pass.

JamisonParker? More like ShittersonShitter. Moving on.

Motion City Soundtrack graced the Bottom Lounge's stage at around 9:30pm and jumped into high gear with "Cambridge" and "Shiver" off I Am The Movie. The band then proceeded to play every song off the album [out of order], minus "Mary Without Sound" and "1000 Paper Cranes." In those song's places we got the quintet's cover of the Police classic "Truth Hits Everybody" which will presumably be on the Militia Group's super hush-hush Police tribute record, and also a brand new song entitled "Hangman." The song showed immense potential and followed in the footsteps of the new songs like "Autograph & Apologies" and "Modern Chemistry" on the I Am The Movie re-release.

The venue was hot, the crowd was hotter, but the band was hottest. Motion City Soundtrack owned the stage from start to finish, leading singalong after singalong through their closing salvo of "The Future Freaks Me Out" and "My Favorite Accident." Not being so easily satiated, the crowd beckoned Justin Pierre and company back out for a well-deserved encore, which they did with aplomb.

After a year of waiting, Motion City Soundtrack once again proved to me that they are the real deal. Hopefully they can get some better support acts next time!

SET LIST [complete, but slightly out of order]
Cambridge
Shiver
Boombox Generation
Don't Call It A Comeback
Modern Chemistry
Hangman [new song]
Truth Hits Everybody [Police cover]
Indoor Living
Autographs & Apologies
A-OK
Capital H
The Future Freaks Me Out
My Favorite Accident

ENCORE
Back To The Beat
Perfect Teeth
Throwdown

Picture courtesy of Lesa DiVenti