fans waited to enter the gates at the third and final WBRU Summer Concert series where their favorite bands, My Chemical Romance, Alkaline Trio and MONTY, were about to perform.
Listening to the sound check of My Chemical Romance’s guitars, their song “Cemetery Drive,” and the occasional singing of Kanye West’s new song “Gold Digger,” the crowd watched through the holes in the fence and waited to take their place in front of the stage. After two more hours, security guards finally opened the gates and fans poured from the streets of Providence into Station Park where an event rocked Rhode Island.
MONTY, previously known as Monty’s Fan Club, is a Rhode Island band who shed the classification of local act after touring once again on this summer’s nationwideVan’s Warped Tour.
About to take the stage to open WBRU’s final Summer Concert Series for 2005, they began jumping up and down backstage to get their blood racing for a competitive performance that would show the big bands what they are capable of.
The crowd was on their feet, jumping in the dirt while singing along to MONTY’s new single “Between the Sheets” from their recently released CD The Red Shift. The set was full of intense singing, back flips and music that everyone was moving around to.
Alkaline Trio was next, and fifteen minutes went by as the band’s equipment was set up. Three guys dressed in black suits and wearing dark black eyeliner suddenly emerged from behind their tour bus. Fans began to scream as the band walked up the side ramp and hit the stage. The piano melody from their popular song “Time to Waste” from their latest album Crimson played as fans watched the band strap on their guitars and step towards the microphones. Alkaline put on an amazing set; crowd surfing and head bobbing came automatically to anyone who was listening.
Related Travel Information
It's been a big year for My Chemical Romance. The New Jersey emo band's second album, last year's "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge," finally drew the notice of mainstream music magazines like Rolling Stone.
My Chemical Romance also scored a gig opening for Green Day and headlined this summer's incarnation of the Warped Tour. Now, with a third album due in November, the band is headlining on its own, with Alkaline Trio and Reggie and the Full Effect.
The tour stops Sunday, Oct. 16 at the Connecticut Expo Center, 265 Rev. Moody Overpass, Hartford. Tickets are $19.99 for the 7 p.m. show.
Las Vegas radio station X 107.5 will sponsor the Xtreme Toy Show at Star Nursery Field at Sam Boyd Stadium. Not only does the show feature bands Reggie and the Full Effect, Alkaline Trio and My Chemical Romance, but there are also many events throughout the day.
The festival will feature demonstrations of "boy toys," including the latest in car stereos, boats and sporting goods. There is also a car show, motor biking, an Oktoberfest beer garden and a dunk tank with pretty women.
This event will not only appeal to men, though.The bands playing display a great deal of talent, featuring
Satisfying the youthful taste for trends, the Connecticut Expo Center in Hartford entertained hundreds of vigorous scenesters by hosting three bands: Reggie and the Full Effect, Alkaline Trio and My Chemical Romance. Current times call for energetic and emotional soundtracks reminiscent of the 1980s underground punk scene. The three bands that entertained the audience Sunday delivered what the masses asked for.
Kicking off the night with Reggie and the Full Effect set a nervous tone for the audience in regards to the caliber of the following acts. Reggie's set list consisted of song after song of indistinguishable noise, giving the illusion
Saturday night's Tsongas Arena lineup vacillated between two distinct musical idioms – call it metal-core, punk-pop or plain old whiner's delight, but never has rock 'n' roll this volatile sounded so tuneful.
Opener Reggie and the Full Effect played a short set of throttling hardcore (complete with uvula-scraping screams), blended with curiously radio-friendly riffs.
Alkaline Trio followed with a dexterous, authoritative performance.Alternating between two lead vocalists, the Chicago-based band played with a seasoned maturity that made for the gig's most pleasant surprise.
Plenty of body
Ray Toro, guitar player for My Chemical Romance, is the one without the make-up.
“It's not my thing,” he says from the road somewhere in Florida, a few days before his band plays the Tsongas Arena in Lowell.
When his Goth-looking band mates apply mascara and eyeliner before a show, Toro plugs into his iPod. Sounding as wholesome as an American Idol contestant, the 28-year-old kid from New Jersey is pretty psyched to be in this IT band right now. The only thing he misses is time.
“When you are constantly going, things go by really fast. You don't get