Motion City in Milwaukee

My favorite band, Motion City Soundtrack, played a show at The Rave in Milwaukee last night with Sherwood, The Higher and The Forecast opening. Jamie and I had tickets for this show as soon as the dates were announced because there was no show announced for Minneapolis and I didn't want to miss them. So, road trip!

We left town a little late and missed The Forecast and The Higher, for the most part. What we did see of The Higher was not that impressive - a pretty typical teen-pop-punk band in the same vein as Boys Like Girls, who opened for MCS at Roy Wilkins in February. We were really impressed with Sherwood, a very melodic group similar to Mae that utilizes keyboards very effectively. A really moody yet upbeat set made me excited to check out their CDs.

The Motion City show, as expected, rocked. They opened strong and fast, only slowed down briefly and finished on a crowd favorite, working in a few new songs from their upcoming album. In case you're interested, here's the set list:

1. Capitol H - one of my favorite songs and one I hadn't heard them play the other two times I'd seen them.
2. Everything Is All Right - the 'single' from their last CD
3. No idea. I have never heard this song, and they said it was 'an old one.' This song rocked, though - hard and fast, just like their other early stuff.
4. Fell In Love Without You - a new song. Pretty solid.
5. Modern Chemistry - another favorite from their I Am the Movie disc.
6. Time Turned Fragile - a run of safe, well-liked songs from their Commit This to Memory disc begins in earnest.
7. Better Open the Door - I like this song because it mentions a few Minneapolis landmarks.
8. L.G. Fuad - Time to slow it down.
9. Mary Without Sound - a deep track from 'Movie,' I was surprised that they played this. Not the strongest song on the album.
10. This Is For Real - another new one, I hope it's not indicative of the slower songs on the new album.
11. Make Out Kids - a good song to start to pull out of the slower portion of the set
12. My Favorite Accident - still keeping it a little more chill but with a bit of a pop
13. Broken Heart - the new single. I really like this song - check out the video here.
14. Attractive Today - seemed like they were going to bring us in to the home stretch and start to really rock...
15. Hold Me Down - but instead go with one of their slowest songs. It's still one of my favorites, but to play it right near the end?
16. The Future Freaks Me Out - the crowd favorite. A sing along!
17.Encore - Perfect Teeth - another one of my favs from their first CD, I Am the Movie. A great end cap.

This night was great because after the show we went to a bar around the corner called the Harp and Shamrock. It was just a little dive but the bartender was really cool. He gave us five bucks to feed the kick-ass touch-screen jukebox and we got 2-for-1s for being at The Rave earlier. I played bar dice and won by the skin of my teeth four times, which meant four free shots. We went and grabbed some late-night grub and headed back to the car. Right across the street from The Rave we passed Justin (right) and Matt(left), the singer and bass player and I was able to get a picture with them. I don't know who that chick is, but she was next to us at the show and we called her Tats. I think she probably scored that night. Jamie and I were surprised at how short these dudes were.


So the night was one big high note. We're excited to hit the surprise Thursday MCS show that they recently announced on My Space. It's at the Varsity Theater and only $20. I highly recommend that everyone check it out!