The Rock Band Live tour, which hit Los Angeles’ Staples Center on Friday and featured bands The Cab, Plain White T’s, Dashboard Confessional and Panic at the Disco, has changed the meaning of audience interaction. Leading acts Dashboard and Panic swept the audience away to their respective fairy-tale scenes with their powerful lyrics, and for Panic, incense and costuming as well. Selected Rock Band fanatics also got to open for these sensations by jamming out on Rock Band 2.
The outside ring of Staples Center overflowed with the standard band merchandise, but also about five Rock Band 2 stations where “bands” could compete when they didn’t feel like watching the concert, which was being broadcast over a speaker system to the rest of the venue. Unfortunately, it would have been better for The Cab if its sound had stayed within the arena for the small audience it had drawn in.
What very easily could have been a local sound-check band warming up the stage was actually The Cab performing. The singer sounded like he was merely yelling lyrics into the microphone while the band played meekly in the background. Even though they had earned their biggest tour spot to date, members of The Cab did not live up to their past performances, most likely because of nervousness and inexperience.
From there on out, however, the show continued to climb in both energy and entertainment value. Plain White T’s took the stage next, mixing things from its newest album, “Big Bad World,” with past hits such as “Hey There Delilah.” Although the laid-back pop-rock mood didn’t get fans jumping around, it did get them singing along with eyes glued to the stage. Going painfully flat on the higher notes was singer Tom Higgenson’s only downfall, and he managed to give a decent live representation of the band’s recordings.
After having competed in contests through local radio stations and national competitions, two groups of fans and Rock Band devotees took the stage, entertaining the audience with ““ what else ““ a Rock Band 2 competition. During the setup for Dashboard Confessional, these “bands” competed onstage in front of the entire audience. Not only did this provide audience members with a sneak peak into Rock Band 2, but it also allowed them something more interesting to look at than the random guy moving amplifiers in the background.
Dashboard Confessional was the first band on this tour to really get the audience fired up. Singer and guitarist Chris Carrabba, bowler hat slightly askew, instantly had the audience screaming along with his slightly sappy, romantic lyrics; each girl was screaming louder than the next in an attempt to prove her devotion to Carrabba.
Amid the chaos, The Cab managed to redeem itself during Dashboard’s performance by having two of its bandsmen, pianist/guitarist Alex Marshall and guitarist Ian Crawford, join Carrabba onstage for a Weezer cover. To end its set, Dashboard closed with the radio hit “Stolen,” and there was not a single person in the audience not jamming along.
During the setup for the final band’s performance, the final two Rock Band teams whipped out their plastic guitars and faux drum sets and hopped onstage. The second of these two groups, which featured Puddle of Mudd vocalist Wes Scantlin, performed a cover of Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer,” to which most everyone in the audience was jumping and yelling along, before moving on to the show’s highlight performance: Panic at the Disco.
Panic has never been a band to merely stand onstage and play music; it puts on a full production with costumes, set pieces and, most importantly, attitude. Even though the style of its second album is a far cry from its debut, “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out,” Panic nevertheless turned its more folksy vibe into a real show.
Band members Brendon Urie, Ryan Ross, Jon Walker and Spencer Smith calmly walked onto the stage after the lights dimmed, taking their places and picking up their gear amid chaotic screams of joy from the audience. Although all the members dressed in their trademark old-fashioned, elegant style ““ Urie donning a paisley button-up ““ they seemed a little worse for the wear physically, with gaunt cheeks and sleepy eyes.
Nevertheless, Panic succeeded in igniting the audience, weaving seamless transitions between its two albums, proving that both album styles can not only coexist, but thrive off of each other. Every so often, the band would change up formation ““ exceptional vocalist Urie proving his worth on a small drum set placed in one corner of the stage while guitarist Ross and bassist Walker took over the singing duties along with their own instruments.
Panic ended its show in this formation, with Urie dancing around onstage screaming out an epically adventurous version of the Isley Brothers’ “Shout.” With an ever-building call and response “He-e-e-ey!” between the audience and Urie, which was sung over Ross’ “A little bit louder now!” Panic wrapped up the Rock Band Live tour, leaving the audience stunned, disoriented and extremely alive with the energy that had just manifested itself all around them.