Previously, I had scene Dashboard Confessional open for Bon Jovi. And open for Third Eye Blind. And open for Counting Crows. But I had yet to see how Chris Carrabba’s beloved emo outfit headline a show, which is one of the top reasons I ventured to the Hollywood Palladium last Sunday night. The other reason was see the reunited Boys Like Girls, who’s latest album Sunday at Foxwoods made me a bigger fan of the group than I was of them in their early 2000’s heyday. The night was full of the nostalgic moments the majority of fans came to see, leading to massive singalongs from all in attendance.
While I’ve been a fan of Taylor Acorn‘s music, I sadly wasn’t able to arrive in time to check out her set. Thankfully I did make it in time for the start of BLG’s set, which was filled with the pomp and grandeur of a classic 80’s rock group, which felt fitting for the direction their new album went, taking influence from singer Martin Johnson’s more 80’s-indebted project The Night Game, and moving further away from the early 2000’s pop-punk that brought them fame. Not that they shied away from those songs – the band opened up with the punchy hit “Love Drunk”. The fans were happy. This was followed with “Five Minutes to Midnight”, another hook-driven song that got the crowd revved.
The band then made their first foray into new material, the sassy “Blood & Sugar”, which basks in a Prince-like groove, and gave Johnson a chance to show off his swagger. They also banged out the excellent “Language”, one of the best tracks from the new album. Whenever the band was performing, things were crackling, but throughout the band’s set, there were some awkward, and sometimes long pauses, leading Johnson to make comments about the stage being haunted (implying some kind of technical difficulties). This did hurt the band’s momentum, and I noticed the audience wading into their own conversations. At times, Johnson also seemed to put on airs of being potentially annoyed at the situation, or confrontational with the audience over their use of phones, or even with his bandmates. But as he leaned into the band’s Boston roots, and was following these aggressive moments with others of pure joy and love for his bandmates (arms around them, hugging, etc), this seemed to be more stage show than actual negativity. Maybe a bit of a jab at the recent Jane’s Addiction drama?
Either way, the band continued to bring crowd-pleasing moments. “Thunder” was a quieter, acoustic hymn in the venue, while “Miracle” was made into a call-and-response with the audience. With no Taylor Swift on hand, they brought out the Taylor they did have (Acorn) to duet on “Two is Better Than One”. “Hero/Heroine” sounded epic in the space, and “The Outside” didn’t lose any momentum. Johnson called on the audience to raise their phones as the band went into their biggest hit “The Great Escape”…but then stopped playing after the first chorus. This seemed to be a way for him to get the recording out of the way so that all of the fans could be there in the moment for the song. It seemed to work, as when they restarted the song, the whole audience was fully invested, and the band seemed to bask into the powerful moment as the room sang every word to the track.
For every Dashboard show, there are the songs you already know Carrabba is going to perform. It wouldn’t be a Dashboard show without “Screaming Infidelities”, “Vindicated” or “Hands Down”. And “Stolen” and “Don’t Wait” also seemed like likely suspects. Having seen him before, my big question is what other songs would he add to a setlist for a headlining show? Well, the first was “The Best Deception”, which he performed in classic, solo acoustic fashion. Carrabba came to fame playing alone on stage, inspiring his passionate fans with his lyrical, diary-like songs featuring just his angelic vocals and guitar. I will say that many of these older songs, to me, were strong on lyrics but the overall songwriting and hooks were not as memorable to me. It’s those areas where Carrabba has grown the most over the years; many of these early fan favorites were re-recorded for The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most, getting the full-band treatment and some extra muscle that make tracks like “Again I Go Unnoticed” a true rock song that carries weight when played live. I also don’t think 2000s Dashboard would have been ready to write a song as anthemic as “Don’t Wait”, one of my personal favorites, which Carrabba and the band played with power.
For the most part, the band stuck to their early fan favorites, playing “The Good Fight” and “Carry This Picture” next. “Southbound and Sinking” was one of the rare post-2010 songs included in the set (I would have voted for “We Fight” or “Belle of the Boulevard”). As he did during his show with Counting Crows, Carrabba told the story of recruiting his guitarist, who joined under the condition he gets to choose one song for every set. While the uninitiated might get excited by this, thinking a rare deep cut may get chosen. The running joke though is that the track chosen is always the same – “Saints and Sailors”, another fan favorite which by this time should probably be considered a regular in a DC set.
At one point in the evening, things were paused as someone in the audience seemed to incur an injury of some kind, leading security to come and check on them while the band waited in the dark. Once the issue was resolved, Carrabba gave a heartfelt thanks to both the fans for looking out for each other, and for the security for addressing the issue quickly and professionally. The music then continued.
“Remember to Breathe” was the last deep-cut of the night, before the band began their hit barrage. “Stolen” still clearly resonates, as it even got one fan up on the shoulders of one of her fellow concert attendees to share her love. It’s a beautiful song for sure. “Swiss Army Romance” is still the ultimate old-school DC fan song (though of his older material, I have always preferred “Age Six Racer”), and Carrabba went solo again for it, hearkening back to his earliest days. And man did Carrabba show off some vocal power with these ones.
Things then shot forward to the present, with Carrabba bringing back out Boys Like Girls for their new collaboration single “Watch the Fire”. This was a fun moment, seeing both bands on stage together and jointly playing this melodic jam. And Johnson also shared what everyone in the room was thinking – Chris Carrabba hasn’t aged a day since he was 21. Seriously, I don’t know if it’s clean living, excellent skin and voice care or what, but the guy has that Paul Rudd gene that keeps him forever young.
And from here, the rest of the set was what anyone would have predicted; “Screaming Infidelities”, “Vindicated” and “Hands Down”. And there’s nothing wrong with this – you gotta close with the hits, and these are his biggest. And they sounded great. So while the evening may have not had any of those unexpected moments (along with some of the other tracks I mentioned, I was also hoping for a “Rapid Hope Loss” inclusion but was left wanting), it’s clear the Dashboard Confessional machine is going to be running strong for years to come, as they know how to embrace the nostalgia market while still not feeling like a nostalgia act.
Listen to a mix of Dashboard old and new here!
The Indy Review 