Blink-182, My Chemical Romance and Matt and Kim: Concert Review and Photos

Band: Blink 182, My Chemical Romance Opener: Matt and Kim
Date: October 2, 2011
Location: Sleep Train Amphitheater, Wheatland, CA

Preface:

Noely and I attended the same show, but we definitely both have different views of the show, being different levels of a "fan" so to speak. Enjoy :)

Preconceived Thoughts of the Band -

For Matt and Kim:

I had previously never heard any of their music before the show. I have some friends who absolutely love Matt and Kim, and those friends and I have pretty similar music taste. Going into their set, I expected to enjoy them, just based on my similar music taste with other fans.

My Chemical Romance:

I have been an on again off again fan of MCR for about 8 years. Back in middle school, my younger brother was obsessed with this band so I have been exposed to their music for quite some time. However, over the years their sound has definitely changed, and for me, it wasn't necessarily for the better. I loved their first two albums, but their last two I never really got in to. I had seen MCR live about 5 years ago, so going in to this show, I wasn't sure what to expect, since they are an aging band with a new sound.

Blink-182:

Much like the Brand New show, I was unsure how this show was going to play out. Since Blink is definitely an aging band, I have heard that seeing them now is not as good as seeing them, say, 6 or 7 years ago. While this can go for any band, I had heard bad things about this fact in regards to Blink. However, since I had never seen them live before, I had to go to experience them at least once, and I kept in mind the fact that they may not sound as good as they once did.

What Actually Happened (BITCH SPOILER ALERT) -



Matt and Kim as an opener for these two bands was awesome. They brought a lot of energy to the stage. Kim's overall presence was spot on and definitely got the crowd pumped up about their music. Having never seen them live, I was really amused by Kim. She is this totally bad ass chick who seriously rocked the drums and had so much energy. She was really funny and she was definitely my defining source of entertainment during their set. They had a really neat idea by throwing out to the pit a bunch of balloons, having everyone blow them up and then throwing them up in the air. Overall, they put on a great show and they gained my approval as a fan.

My Chemical Romance was actually way better than I expected. While I wasn't sure what their crowd and fans would be like, since they have been around quite awhile but come out with new music, so they have a bunch of teenage fans, I was actually pretty comfortable with the crowd there. They played a good mix of music from all their albums, instead of just their new stuff. Gerard sounded spot on in his singing and overall, they put on a really good show for old fans and new fans.

Never having seen Blink-182, I was really excited for their show. Afterwards, I was really impressed with the quality of their performance. They played a really good set. Travis's drumming amazed me. He seriously rocked. Their sound overall was good, but I was disappointed in the fact that they didn't put on the type of show they used to be known for. They have the reputation of constantly cracking jokes on stage, but I cant say that there was any jokes at this show. I was really disappointed because that's one of the best things that they are known for. The music and the crowd was good, but I wish that their personalities would have come out more on stage.

Verdict -

All these bands put on great shows music-wise. Matt and Kim absolutely rocked the stage, MCR was a crowd pleaser, and Blink sounded good as ever. Wolf James and I did get a creepy dude hitting on us and following us around, so that was sort of weird, but the show was awesome!!!!
Bitch Rate - 2.5/5


--Relic