It was emo night at the Commodore Ballroom. Boy was it the wrong night to forget earplugs. While that may sound like a dig, it’s not towards the bands, but the volume. My ears were rattling from the jump. But I don’t think anyone else seemed to care, as the crowd was in a fever the entire night.
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Up first was Canadian L0L0. For a newer artist, who was playing her first show in Vancouver (a theme of the night) she had the stage presence of someone more seasoned. She and her band kicked off the night with energy, which was transferred from the crowd. Speaking of the crowd, who’s average age was maybe 30, couldn’t be put in a column. All I could think was that every table at North Shore High (Mean Girls) was represented. And they all came to party. L0l0 herself engaged with them a lot, stopping to talk after almost every song. Which never took away from the energy of the songs, where she was jumping around the stage back and forth. The only time she wasn’t was for the couple songs she slung a Tele Deluxe around her, and stood at them mic. For the final song, saw the crowd at the behest of the singer, raise the lights on their phones (and one lighter), for a slow jam. With that it was on to the next…
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"We can all tell that voice to shut up together."
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Following L0L0 was The Summer Set, who despite being a band for 15 years, had never made it up here to Vancouver. And boy, was the city ready, even if it took them a couple songs to get there. The song that got the party started was a cover of One Directions “You Don’t Know You’re Beautiful”. The band brought it with the entire band bouncing around the stage, clearly having a blast. Even drummer Jess Bowen, who was tucked into the corner behind her drums, and who got the biggest cheer from the crowd when she was introduced. But it was the final two songs that put the crowd into a frenzy that would last the rest of the night. And probably hoping it’s not 15 years before they see The Summer Set again.
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Third up was another Vancouver first timer State Champs. Despite it being their first time, a fair amount of the crowd cheered when asked if they’d seen them before. Again, the band brought the energy, and enough of it for a crowd that was already buzzing. With each song the crowd got more and more enthused. Which I would say became a feedback loop between them and the guys on stage, who were clearly having a ball. When the band stopped to talk and have some fun banter back and forth, the crowd was feeding off of it. If there happened to be people that didn’t know State Champs before the show (seemingly unlikely), everyone that left the show was one.
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"We've never been here before and this is the coolest way to kick it off."
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Finally it was time for the headliner, Boys Like Girls, who had actually played Vancouver before…but it had been a while, and the crowd was ready. The Commodore’s famous floor was thumping from the first beat. Singer Martin Johnson pranced around the stage, like he was in a band in 1986. He also made a few pit stops to what I assume was his baby who was watching from the side of the stage. The rest of the band weren’t lacking for energy either. Jumping on and off risers that where on either side of the stage. The stage setup was pretty cool, though I will admit as I was waiting in the pit for it to start, and saw the fake Marshall cabs, I rolled my eyes and groaned. But when the show started, the cabs turned into screens, which was pretty cool. Though I really don’t see why the needed to say Marshall, but I think I was probably the only one there that cared. Because the rest of the Commodore patrons were having the time of their lives singing along to what I can say from the enthusiasm was each and everyone of their favourite band. When I left, the packed room may have been the happiest room in the city. Especially the 120 people who received picks flicked to them throughout the set, with 40 taped on each mic stand.
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Hey, Jade here. Thanks for visiting Backline Beat. If you like the site and would like to help support it, I’d be very grateful. Every little bit helps. Right now I’m an army of one, and would like at some point to be able to bring on other voices, to be a part of Backline Beat. Below, are links to Patreon, PayPal, and Linktree.
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Thanks again, and I can’t wait to grow this with you.
— Jade Dempsey