Sunday, November 18, 2007

Concert Review: The Starting Line at The Palladium Ballroom

By Kenneth Smith of 2K7 Photography

Saturday night was pop-punk mania in Dallas as The Palladium Ballroom hosted the 2007 Riot! Tour with The Almost, Paramore, and main support The Starting Line. The show was sold out and this was obvious by the fact that the inside of the venue was packed from wall to wall with people, mainly younger kids and a few of their parents. The guys from The Starting Line took the stage around 8:10 pm and the entire venue immediately came alive with screams and what seemed like a million camera flashes.

Opening with the title track "Direction" from the latest album, the guys quickly got the set off to a great start. The fans immediately began pouring over the barricade, showing that the intense amount of crowd surfing that I'm used to seeing at metal and hardcore style shows has definitely spread to this genre of music as well. The sound was great and everyone seemed to be spot on as Vocalist/Bassist Kenny Vasoli belted out the songs with backup being provided by about 3500 fans.

Before performing "Up & Go" from the 2002 Say It Like You Mean It album, the band did a mini rendition of "The stars at night, are big and bright..." (or whatever that song is called) and of course the crowed loved it, and sang the next lyric that we are all, all to familiar with. A few moments later, Vasoli taunted the fans by asking if they were ready for Paramore, then playing a few notes from "Misery Business" (Paramore's most popular song).

Following a striptease/dance-a-thon by someone who later turned out to be a Helio (tour sponsor) employee and friend of the band during one of the songs, the guys announced that the next song would be the last. The fans went crazy as the guys began playing "The Best of Me" from Say It Like You Mean It. Every lyric was loudly belted out by the crowd almost drowning out the band (ok, so not really THAT loud, but you get the point). In true rock star style, towards the end of the song, the house lights came on, and the guys waved and left the stage as the crowd literally sang the last line of the song a cappella. "We got older, but we're still young. We never grew out of this feeling that we don't give up" echoed throughout the venue before everyone cheered and the house music came on.

Despite an earlier comment about this crowd being amazing "for Cowboys fans" (hey, these guys are from Philadelphia so considering the beating their Eagles took 2 weeks ago, bitterness is to be expected) the evening was stellar. The guys put on a phenomenal show and sounded great. The fans were clearly having a good time as well. To the five or six girls I saw being carried out by medics, seemingly unconscious; I hope you all ended up o.k. Remember, when you are in a group of nearly four thousand people all huddled together and trying to push toward the stage, the temperatures can get pretty high, so, wearing hoodies is probably not the best idea.

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