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Pop-punk invades Chicago!

Bands: Motion City Soundtrack, Sugarcult, MxPx and Simple Plan

Venue: The Riviera - Chicago, Illinois

Date: January 9, 2004

It was a cold Chicago night and the Riviera was filled with eager adolescents ready to pogo the night away to punk with more pop than popcorn. Parents lined the walls with their arms crossed and their eyes rolling while their kids screamed along to every word of their bubblegum idols.

Motion City Soundtrack got the night off to a seemingly energetic start. Unfortunately, I was directly below the stage interviewing MxPx drummer, Yuri Zane Ruley during MCS's set, but the crowd was loud, even down there, which tells me that the fans liked the set.

Sugarcult was greeted by enthusiastic fans with arms raised and fists pumping in unison to the addictive beats of songs like "Your the One" and "Daddy's Little Defect." Sugarcult embraced the young Chicago crowd saying that they liked Chicago for its blue skies and middle fingers.

Sugarcult are the poster children for pop-punk apparel, guitarist Marko 72 was dressed in a tight fitting pin-striped jacket with a white collared shirt and a thin red tie. Vocalist / guitarist Tim Pagnotta looked sharp in his tight leather jacket covering a hot pink dress shirt with a black tie. Sugarcult gets the evening wear award for the night for sure.

The band coupled new songs off Palm Trees and Power Lines, which is due out in April, with almost every track off Start Static. Rest assured that the new material is just as hook-filled and enjoyable as the old stuff.

Even though Sugarcult sailed through their set, they still had time to pester the crowd and get a multitude of participation. The even convinced one female to bare her breasts, but failed to get proper identification to ensure she was of age.

Pagnotta announced that they were using a fill drummer, whom he called "Carlos," because their regular drummer had back surgery. He said that Chicago was Carlos' first night with the band and that they had only practiced once with him. Had Pagnotta not said anything, no one really would have cared. Carlos was able to keep up with everything and sounded like a veteran to the band.

Sugarcult closed their high energy set with "Bouncing Off the Walls" and had the crowd begging for more, but they didn't get anything else.

From the shotgun start of MxPx's set to the melancholy acoustic version of "Quit Your Life," MxPx's live professionalism was jaw dropping.

The band has a huge palette of music to draw from and they took full advantage of it. For just over an hour, MxPx played songs like "The Next Big Thing," "Play it Loud," and "Buildings Tumble."

The bands set was accented by a frenzy of strobe lights and the stage was doused in blues, reds, purples and yellows. Vocalist / bassist Mike Herrera had a pin striped suit coat on, a faded pair of jeans and resembled more of a preppy punk than anything else. Maybe he's just growing up a little bit. Drummer, Yuri's hair was spiked and wild and so were his expressions as he wailed away on his drums. Like Herrera, guitarist Tom Wisniewski's clothing was mature, but his faux hawk was amazing. Once Herrera finally shed his jacket, the crowd was able to get a glimpse of his tattoo covered arms.

MxPx were probably the most interactive band of the evening. They had a "bass off" competition, where they randomly brought two females from the crowd onto the stage to pluck away at a couple of Herrera's basses. Neither of the two were very good, but that wasn't really the point. The band was constantly trying to get the crowd to mosh and move around and even had a screaming contest. And that's when I realized that my ears wouldn't hurt from the loud music, they hurt from the shrill screams of all the girls in the audience.

Another thing that stood out about MxPx was how into the show they got. They truly seemed to be really into it as they jumped around on the stage and made eye contact with the fans.

The energy level just kept escalating as the set went on. The steamed through "Everything Sucks (When You're Gone)" and "Responsibility," and even did a cover of "Should I Stay or Should I Go." Herrera concluded the main set by launching his bass straight up toward the purple ceiling of the Riviera and caught it without even flinching.

The punk veterans returned for an explosive encore, playing "Chick Magnet" and "Punk Rawk Show." The crowd was still thirsty for more, but it was Simple Plan's turn to entertain.

Remember seeing scenes of the Beatles on TV and all of the girls were screaming so loud that the vocals weren't even comprehensible? That's exactly what Simple Plan's set was like. Girls screamed the lyrics and mere cries of infatuation as these Canadian mall punks bounced around the stage and spun in unison.

Simple Plan played nearly every song off No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls, but it was the cover songs that really stood out. They played part of Pink's "Get The Party Started," a Black Eyed Peas song and an awesome version of "Happy Together" by the Turtles.

Simple Plan sped the tempo up on songs like "God Must Hate Me," "Addicted" and "I'm Just A Kid," but the crowd didn't care because it meant they could just jump higher and scream louder. The band put a lot of emotion into songs like "I Won't Be There" and "Meet You There" that some fans were actually in tears as they took it all in.

Guitarist, Sebastien Lefebvre is probably the most sarcastic of the bunch and kept saying things like, "We are stupid." He also commented on how cold it was in Chicago that night. They should be used to that, they're from Canada, eh?

Outside of the cover songs and Lefebvre throwing his guitar pick in the air and catching it in his mouth, Simple Plan's set wasn't all too amazing. Especially in comparison to MxPx, but hey it wasn't boring either.

Simple Plan concluded the evening with vocalist Pierre Bouvier coming out to play their smash hit "Perfect" with a low key acoustic feeling. The crowd pretty much sang it for him, but then the rest of the band joined in for a big staccato finish.

This show was pretty much like being live at a MTV taping, but it was still energetic and enjoyable none-the-less. I'm not afraid to admit it, I'm still a sucker for cheesy pop-punk.

Written By: Adam K. Zakroczymski III - Senior Editor / Founder

March 7, 2004

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