Modern Minstrels

Nintendo Fusion Tour

Last night I went to the Nintendo Fusion Tour at the Warfield and saw an excellent lineup of bands: Panic! At the Disco, Boys Night Out, Motion City Soundtrack, The Starting Line, and Fall Out Boy.

The show started at 7 and I left Cupertino around 5:30, unfortunately due to really bad rush hour traffic I didn't end up getting to the show until about 7:15. Suck. I was really looking forward to Panic!'s set so I was quite disappointed that I only got to hear the last song of their set. On the bright side that song was Time to Dance, which is my favorite of their songs and of course the "I say shotgun, you say wedding. Shotgun! Wedding!" part was full of crowd participation.

Next up was Boys Night Out, who I was only vaguely familiar with. They are a pretty scream heavy band, so not being familiar with any of their songs it was hard to pick up many of the lyrics. I did enjoy Medicating which is the one song of theirs I had heard before.

Then came the band I was most looking forward to seeing, Motion City Soundtrack. They played a really energetic, fun set and it was much longer than Panic's or Boy's Night Out's set. The best part of a live MCS show is definitely the keyboardist. That guy knows how to rock out (for instance doing hand stands on his keyboard). They of course played the singles The Future Freaks Me Out and My Favorite Accident from their first album. I was also really excited when they played Capital H. The one song I would have liked to hear and didn't was Autographs and Apologies, though that is a much slower song and really wouldn't have fit with their set. Fortunately early next year they are going on a headlining tour with OK Go and The Spill Canvas in support, so there's a good chance I'll get to hear it then. A quick listing of the songs I can remember they played (in no particular order):

• Better Open the Door
• The Future Freaks Me Out
• Attractive Today
• Everything is Alright
• When You're Around
• Hangman
• Boombox Generation
• Capital H
• My Favorite Accident

Then it was time for The Starting Line. I was really looking forward to hearing the new stuff from Based on a True Story. Sadly the 15 year old girl crowd could not possibly appreciate that album, so things were pretty calm during their set, except of course for Leaving and Best of Me. Kenny even said something at one point like "We hope you buy our album. And we hope one day you'll love our album. But right now we just hope you know the words so you can sing along." I did enjoy their set but I'd love to see them again with a bit of an older crowd that's into their new album and I really want to hear them play Photography live. And with that the approximate set list:

• Surprise, Surprise
• Best of Me
• Bedroom Talk
• Given the Chance
• Ready
• Autography
• Leaving
• (There were several more, but I can't remember what)

And last but not least was Fall Out Boy. Let me just say they put on an awesome live show. Its only a matter of seconds from the time they take the stage until you are completely drawn into their music. The biggest problem with a Fall Out Boy set is they don't have any slow songs, so you've got to have good stamina to make it through a whole set without collapsing (especially when you've already been rocking out to 4 other bands). They opened with Our Lawyers Made Us Change The Name Of This Song So We Wouldn't Get Sued and as they did tons of confetti was released from the ceiling. Fun stuff. They played a fine mix of new and old songs, including the song Moving Pictures which is pre Take This To Your Grave. The one song I was surprised they didn't play was Dead On Arrival, since that was a staple from the Take This To Your Grave days.

I know their are a lot of FOB haters now that they have gotten big and hit the MTV scene, but I for one am happy for them. Sure I miss the small shows I saw them at in Cleveland, but they've worked incredibly hard to get where they are so they deserved every bit of success.

And lastly the songs I remember they played:

• Our Lawyers Made Us Change The Name Of This Song So We Wouldn't Get Sued
• Sugar We're Going Down
• Dance, Dance
• Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner
• Of All The Gin Joints In The World
• Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year
• A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More "Touch Me"
• XO
• Tell That Mick He Just Made My List Of Things To Do Today
• Grand Theft Autumn
• Saturday
• Homesick At Space Camp
• Chicago is So Two Years Ago
• Moving Pictures