Yellowcard Acoustic tour in San Francisco on 04.06.08

My second show in three days was the Yellowcard acoustic show on Sunday night at The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. The headliners sang to a sold-out crowd with bands Treaty of Paris, PlayRadioPlay!, and The Spill Canvas supporting.

After Thursday's The Starting Line show, I hung out with the roommates and went to South Bay for the weekend. Immediately after returning to the city, I met up with Megan, who I've never been to a show with, but was super excited to finally see a show after Tiger Army. A few nights ago, I sent Megan a few YC songs, and included a few from Treaty of Paris and The Spill Canvas.

Last year, Yellowcard released their latest CD called Paper Walls which produced the first single "Light Up The Sky". A lot of fans have asked about them doing an acoustic set, and it got them to think about making it a reality for this tour.

We arrived at GAMH to a considerable line that got considerably larger by the time doors opened at 6 p.m. Megan went to a corner convenience store to grab a sandwich while I waited in. When she got back, she offered half her sandwich and water to me, but I knew that any intake of water and food would have to eventually get out and after what happened with missing Kenny last Thursday due to my bladder, I learned my lesson and I refused, I refused, I refused. ;)

Inside, we were maybe two rows back from the front, but this side on the center-right side (stage left) which offered me a different viewing perspective. First up was Treaty of Paris, a band I was actually excited about seeing live. Now this happens not very often. Exceptions to this include Augustana opening for Snow Patrol, The Midway State for Mika, and The Cab for Cobra Starship.

Treaty of Paris is a Chicago-based pop-punk band who released their debut album Sweet Dreams, Sucker last September, which was produced by Andrew McMahon (Something Corporate and Jack's Mannequin). The album had a number of radio-friendly head bangers, including this one called "Hello Nurse":

They also played "Waking Up The Dead", "New Improved", the slow jam "I'll Come Back", and the final song of their half hour set, "Rollerskates". Megan (who says she possesses the ability to sing along to songs she doesn't know) and I (who sings along when I actually know the words lol) sang and lead singer Mike Chorvat noticed we stood out from the crowd, and reached out his hand to touch our hands in gratitude.

The second band is really just the one-man-band of Daniel Hunter a.k.a. who plays under the moniker PlayRadioPlay! The native Texan played homage to his home state on his major label debut Texas which was released just a month ago. I've been listening to a lot of Lights lately, and he reminds me of a male version of the Canadian synth pop singer.

For the CD, he played all the instruments himself. For this tour, his brand of electronic music does translate interestingly well, with the help of an awesome drummer and keyboardist. He also set up this huge iMac on stage. Daniel doesn't seem to have perfected the art of being a frontman yet though, because he appears timid and aside from rousing the crowd for applause for the other bands on the bill, he doesn't really interact with the crowd. Megan said he looked like he hasn't had much experience performing and could possibly be straight edge. He did look like he just barely finished high school and I did notice the back of his hands were marked with underage stamps.

He played a few songs off of his Frequency EP, including "I'm A Pirate, You're A Princess", and the first single "Madi Don't Leave" (Madi is the name of his GF).

The next band was The Spill Canvas who I was surprised had a large following here. A lot of their fans made their attempts to push to the front, which made our standing in line more unbearable. This one girl who was friendly to us proceeded to lean her forearm on the shoulder of a girl who was in front of us, who was in front of a large space which confused the heck out of us. We tried to politely give the hint to move up, but of course she didn't get it. Apparenetly she was claustrophobic, which is great here since you will never feel like you're in a confined space ever at a concert pit.

Back to the music, they played a good half hour set of songs from their first major label album No Really, I'm Fine. The band, lead by lead singer Nick Thomas, is originally from South Dakota. As you can see in the next vid, there was this crazy girl in the audience with mullet hair who did some shamefully frenetic dancing.

Finally, the main act! For a long time, I've wanted to see Yellowcard in concert, and would have been thrilled to witness a full, plugged-in show, and wasn't sure about how they would sound in acoustic. but because of the temporary departure of LP (drumer Longineu Parsons) due to personal family issues, frontman Ryan Key, Sean Mackin (violin), Ryan Mendez (guitar), and a hired cellist -- the new addition for this tour -- set out to perform songs that spanned the band's nearly eight year history. And some of those songs, actually translate great unplugged.

They started with "Rough Draft" and quickly got into "Fighting", the rumored second single off of their latest release Paper Walls. They played a lot of songs from One For The Kids, the first album where Ryan sings on lead. Shortly after, Ryan introduced the members of the band. I got particularly excited when he asked if there were any Asians in the audience, and of course, we kids shrieked in solidarity to Sean, who is half Japanese.

Ryan said he was excited about going to San Francisco and it was worthwhile, even though he had to pass through boring cities like Portland to get here. A key moment or shift in the evening occurred when Ryan said he needed to offer an apology. He said that after the success of breakthrough Ocean Avenue, success got to their heads and lost sight of what was truly important: performing and the fans who come out to shows for the music. He apologized for being such an asshole to the fans and now realizes the importance of it all. He then segued into "Lights and Sounds" which he said dealt with a lot of these messed up feelings they were having.

They immediately followed with "Way Away" which although is fantastic with the noise and all, it was amazing how nearly everyone sang along to the verses and no one was drowned out. Ryan continues to talk about how he was really appreciative of all the fans who showed up every night even when MTV would stop playing their videos and it was proof that the fans never left. He also commented on how it was funny that people believed they were this "good little Christian band". Haha!

Yellowcard then sang the lead single "Light Up The Sky" from Paper Walls which sounded rad in acoustic. Other notable songs: "Sureshot", "Cigarette", and "Avondale", the only song they played from their only Fueled By Ramen release of The Underdog EP. Though, I did wish they played one of faves, "Powder".

Next up was the epic moment everyone was waiting for. Everyone knew it was coming and finally we screamed our lungs out to "Only One".

The encore consisted of "October Nights" and of course, "Ocean Avenue". After singing one verse of the song, Ryan divided the audience into two sides and instructed the audience to sing to different parts of the song. Ryan's side (stage right) sang the bridge while Sean's side (us, in stage left, our right) sang along with his background vocals, "Whoa Oh Ah Oh". It was awesome.

Immediately after leaving the stage, everyone was gunning for the setlists and Sean threw one in my direction and I grabbed onto it but some other dude also grabbed after I did and so I pulled it down toward me and thought: "No way in hell am I letting this go! Just quit it, it's mine!" After that moment of adrenaline, I won but it got crumbled and torn in the end. Later that night, Aiza said that the setlist is the best thing you could get at a show. I learned from her well.

The highly coveted setlist and Megan's green fingernails.

Afterward, we went straight to merch, byspassed the YC stuff for the Treaty of Paris table. The PlayRadioPlay! merch dude had a toy puppy on his table with a donations jar next to it so I gave a buck. He was also tried to sell the CD, but we weren't buying. While at the Treaty of Paris merch, I got Sweet Dreams, Sucker which they were selling at the ridiculously low price of $5 only. It is definitely worth every buck and more. I spoke with Mike, the lead singer and asked why they didn't play "Quits" and he told me they alternate that song with "I'll Come Back" every other night. Megan and I took a photo with Mike and Dan the guitarist.

We also got to meet Mr. PlayRadioPlay! afterward who seemed rather indifferent about the post-show meet and greet. Megan and I were still wondering about his age and finally asked. (He is 18).

Said we figured he was underrage and I made an off-the-cuff comment that in three year's he'd be able to drink, not knowing that the kid went to rehab for drug and alcohol abuse at 14(!) and is now lives a straight edge lifestyle.

The best part of it all was getting to meet Ryan Key and Sean Mackin afterward. They were really nice and is quite the cool fellow, who is getting married soon.

The Yellowcard acoustic show did not disappoint and although I can't compare it to a regular show with the full band, it was a unique experience to see this band play their favorite songs at this type of venue. I do, however, hope to experience a show with everyone (including LP) in the near future.

We YC fans have been there through the years and it's great to know they listened to us, letting out the noise and bearing their hearts and their strings.