Review
Never Shave Again Tour gets wild crowd
October 19, 2006
Fine Line Music Café. Oct. 14. The Never Shave Again Tour. A line-up of bands Silverstein, Aiden, along with The Devil Wears Prada, and The Stick Up.
With the tour just beginning a day prior in Milwaukee, each band gave 110 percent. The show erupted with the sounds of Ontario’s own The Stick Up. For an opening band, it was shocking to see how talented the entire band was. Good, solid rock music. Overall, the set played was solid and lively. The moshing began immediately, thanks to an all-ages show being put in place only days before the event.
After a surprising performance, almost instantly the second band appeared on the stage. What was expected to be a pop-punk act with an inference from name only totally rocked the roof off the Fine Line. Howling death metal screams, insane keyboard melodies and mind-boggling hardcore breakdowns, The Devil Wears Prada put the crowd into a moshing rage. Bodies continued to fly everywhere as circle pits exploded everywhere. Rockers everywhere were getting on all fours to have others leap onto the crowd to keep up with the amount of body surfing.
As the last howl echoed on from front man Mike Hranica, the crowd came to a wallowing calm as the set closed and the stage emptied.
Next up was Victory Records’ newly found flagship band Aiden, a terrible live four-piece post-hardcore, gothcore, punk band with a fan base I cannot even understand. Lead vocal Wil Francis leapt around the stage frantically while swinging the mic, which he proclaimed he would break by the end of the set. To sum it up lightly, the band was absolutely horrid. Sketchy vocals and etchy guitars plagued the stage with an obnoxious stage presence. It’s one thing to move around showing that you love what you do, but having a stage prop totally set aside for members to jump on and off of to look cool?
Please spare me from erupting in laughter at a show, thanks. During the smash hit “Die Romantic,” a medieval battle scene took place as the crowd separated to polar opposite sides of the floor, and on a count from Wil, chaos broke loose. But as said before, stage presence is one thing, but your music actually has to be good.
Finally, the moment all of Fine Line was waiting for — the headlining band, also a part of Victory Records, took the stage as the crowd exploded with excitement.
With a little tour prelude, the sounds of “Your Sword Versus My Dagger” smashed into the ears of Minneapolis. Lights flaring and the sheer howls of Shane Told shattering eardrums, the crowd erupted into circle pits. Playing everything ranging from “Already Dead” to the greatly anticipated but also expected “Bleeds No More,” Silverstein obviously has what it takes to play with the big boys.
With Wil from Aiden appearing in the encore, as usual, both front men were engulfed in the Minneapolis crowd as the final screams subsided and mics were thrown down with a silent exit. The Never Shave Again Tour continues on throughout late November, with guest appearances including Scary Kids Scaring Kids, It Dies Today and He is Legend.
Unfortunately all Midwest tour dates are over by now, but before you know it they will be back and most likely better than this time — if that’s possible.
Erik Wood is a student at UW-River Falls.