Slick Shoes was the first band to take the stage at the The Vic on this saturday night. I had seen them before in August at a show in Rockford, but I was standing really far away and they just sounded like a regular ol' pop punk band to me. But this time, I gave them a better listen because I was up in front and was anxiously waiting for the other bands. I've heard a lot of people say that they are basically MxPx and in one sense, I agree with them, but I don't necessarily agree with them in a bad way. Their guitar work in their songs aren't too bad, it could be a lot worse; at least they throw in a few solos here and there, but nothing too fancy. I don't exactly like the singer's voice because it seemed kind of monotonous in one sense; like he wasn't using to many notes on the scales in his voice. I know they played one song called "Angel" which was near the end of their set and thats the only song I was slightly familiar with because I have it downloaded on my computer. The crowd wasn't very responsive to them though. In fact, there really weren't that many people there yet. There were a few push and shoves behind me, but nothing more than a bunch of kids jumping up and down into each other.

Next up was The Eyeliners. They were the only band on the bill I hadn't seen before and I was all in all impressed. I had heard much about The Eyeliners, either about how great they were, or how much they sucked. I lean towards the positive opinions. I had only heard a few songs from them off compilations and whatnot, and I was glad to finally see them live. I know they used to be a three-piece of only girls for awhile, but they now have a drummer and the singer is just singing. Their songs have nice guitar riffs, and in my opinion, they remind me a lot of the girl version of Screeching Weasel, who I know they toured with a few years back. They, too, played a good half hour set and the crowd moved around a lot more to them than to Slick Shoes.

Third to go was Yellowcard. Okay, I've seen Yellowcard about five times this past year. At one point, I really liked them; like when I saw them at the Fireside Bowl in December and bought a shirt at their merch table. And I even continued liking them for the following months, but when I last saw them in Rockford in August, it seems like Yellowcard's shows lost their oomph. Or maybe it's just me, cause it seemed like the crowd really enjoyed them. One thing I wish they'd do, is less talk, more play. But I guess the crowd didn't really care. They just simply did the jumping up and down like french fries thing to their music. Anyway, enough about the crowd... they played a decent mix of songs from "One for the Kids" (Lobster Records) and "The Underdog EP" (Fueled by Ramen), but mostly stuff from "One for the Kids". They got the crowd to participate in songs like Big Apple Heartbreak and October Nights by having one side say certain lyrics and then the other side and so on. That's cute and all, but I really think they should have just shut up and play. The plus side to seeing them this time, is they didn't do the whole Star Wars thing that they did 3 out of 5 times I saw them. Of course, what's a Yellowcard show without Sean, the violinist, doing his backflips onstage?

Finally, No Use For A Name took the stage and played a whoasome little-over-an-hour set. No Use For a Name's tempo has somewhat slowed down in their last few albums but most people still just describe them as simply melodic punk. They don't use weird phaser and weird effect pedals on their guitars, just overdrive I think, so its just straight forward, melodic punk rock. They opened up with "Feels Like Home" with just Tony Sly, his white Gibson Les Paul Custom, and the mic. Of course, just like the album it's on, "Hard Rock Bottom", they went right into "International You Day" when the other band members came onstage. They didn't play anything earlier than the songs on "Leche Con Carne" which was pretty much expected no matter how much the crowd wanted them to play stuff from at least "The Daily Grind". They played songs like "Soulmate", "Straight from the jacket", and "Justified Black Eye" from "Leche con carne"; "Invincible", "The Answer is still no", and "On the Outside" (where the singer of The Eyeliners sang the girl voice to the song) from "Making Friends"; "Not your Savior", and "Coming too Close" from "More Betterness", and "Dumb Reminders", "Friends of the Enemy", "Angela", and a few others from "Hard Rock Bottom". After they "left the stage" they played "Let Me Down" and "Exit" to finish off the show.

During Slick Shoes and NUFAN, Sean from Yellowcard made a few appearances and had his violin with him to play a song with both of the bands.

All in all, I think it was great show and worth standing outside for an hour in the chilly weather. It was also worth getting kicked by the many crowd surfers and walking out with a slightly swollen lip. NUFAN played a decent amount of older and newer songs and rocked the place, Yellowcard doesn't really do it for me anymore, The Eyeliners were simply good, and Slick Shoes still hasn't quite grabbed me yet.

If this tour comes around your neck of the hoods, try to check it out, it won't be thoroughly disappointing.