There is a class of Chicago-based rock groups that packs an often imitated but rarely replicated sound, fusing dance-inducing rhythms, powerful choruses and punk rock. Obvious headliners of the style are Fall Out Boy and Panic! At the Disco. However, arguably the style’s true mastery is possessed by neither of the above.
True to the style of their Illinois counterparts, The Audition’s rollicking ability to cause dancing captures any audience in such a fashion that even brutal mosh pits will compete to gain the concert floor.
Last April The Audition toured with comparable bands Punchline and Cute is What We Aim For.
Having seen (and reviewed) The Audition and company last year, I knew what to expect from the night: unbridled power pop, endless dancing, and general fun coursing through a venue little larger than most bars.
What I didn’t expect was what looked like a middle-aged corporate accountant in a collared work shirt take the stage.
All in all, the keyboardist next to the man achieved a vaguely Dickensian character and a fashion that would have found itself straight from the 19th century. Behind this motley cast conversed a bassist and a drummer, rounding out the 5- piece band known as New London Fire.
The sound that the band emphasized was even more than expected. I thought I was attending a power pop rock show, bur from the moment the wisp of a keyboardist’s fingers tickled their first song to life the venue was instantly filled with a soul piercingly transcendent, joyous and polished indie-rock sound.
The sound washed over the audience like water filling a desert. New London Fire immediately preceded a lesser but ultimately appropriate band called Umbrellas.
Although playing indie rock, they sounded about as different from the night’s headliners as any band could, borrowing from lazy-sounding bands such as Daphne Loves Derby
Finally, with the third act, Down to Earth Approach, the night began to feel like it might end with gritty dance rock. Down to Earth Approach has good music, and owes its success largely to the competent accent to their rock provided by their band’s keyboardist. Listening to the album (which was recorded before the addition of the keyboard) it is clear just how much the instrument adds to the band’s sound.
Easily the weakest act of the night was penultimate act The Forecast (The Audition will only play a few dates on the tour, the rest of which will be headlined by The Forecast).
Like many bands fronted by female singers, The Forecast makes the grievous miscalculation of playing a musical style invented to feature male vocals and simply replacing the front man with a front woman.
Although Meg and Dia and the Hushsound are examples of girl-fronted rock bands that have successfully melded their songwriting to match and feature their vocals, The Forecast unfortunately falls tragically short of similar success and, thanks to the off-key vocals of a male guitarist, at times falls short of even being palatable.
Time finally carried the night to its glorious and inevitable conclusion in the more than capable hands of The Audition.
As the band’s lead guitar started the engine on their power pop machine, their front man roared “All right Denver, I wanna see you move!” And move we did. The band’s set was spectacular and worth the wait.
The opening acts may have been rather rocky, but The Audition put on a stunning response mixed with quick beats and fun rhythms.
