Music Review Dashboard sings for

Dashboard sings for relief

BY NICK COOPER

Daily Titan Staff

There is only one way to describe a Dashboard Confessional concert. It’s a campfi re sing-along meets the emotionally driven punk scene.

Playing to a packed house, Dashboard Confessional front man Chris Carrabba performed a surprise show at the Hollywood House of Blues last Wednesday.

The show was announced the week before and instantly sold out as pleasantly surprised fans rushed to their computers to buy tickets. The show was a benefi t for those affected by the tsunamis that devastated parts of Asia last December.

The Wimbledons, a new band formed by Johnny Lefl er, of Dashboard Confessional, and his brothers opened the show with their melodic sounds and funny lyrics. The Lefl er brothers’ humorous and lively music helped calm the rabid fans waiting to see Chris.

Second on stage was a relatively new band by the name of The Comas.

Their energetic indie style rock energized the crowd in preparation for the main attraction. The entire band stuck around after the show to autograph their CDs and talk to fans.

While the opening acts rocked the house and energized the crowd, it was still evident who the audience was there to see. A deafening roar surged through the audience as Chris Carrabba took stage. Now it was time for the show to begin.

If there is one thing any Dashboard fan knows, it is the fact Carrabba’s concerts are more about the audience then about the band. The audience sang along with every word to the familiar songs.

The loyal legion of Carrabba fans knew exactly what to do during the song “Screaming Infi delities” as Chris, fl ashing a little grin, strummed at his guitar and stepped away from the microphone allowing the audience to fi ll in the song.

Carrabba smiled as the crowd’s volume exceeded his own, joking that the benefi t of the show was his own amusement and congratulated the audience for its talent at singing.

He let the fans take the show where they wanted it to go. Audience requests were high and well met as Chris tried to accommodate almost every request.

His appreciation for his fans was well conveyed as he replied “I love you too,” back to the fans who shouted “We love you Chris”.

During the show, Carrabba surprised the audience with a special appearance by Jesse Lacey of Brand New.

Lacey performed a partial duet with Carrabba and a few solo songs while Carrabba took a break on stage.

Carrabba seemed surprised to hear that almost everyone was singing along to “So Long, So Long,” a song he came out with last summer on the Civic Tour.

He also played “Hands Down,” “Vindicated,” “The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most,” “Saints and Sailors,” and “Carry this Picture,” just to name a few.

The audience was a buzz with excitement as Carrabba announced that Dashboard Confessional is going to make a new CD in the near future. Carrabba looked humbled at the turnout and by his audience’s reaction to his music.

Someone write Ben Gibbard a letter telling him that because he took so long to write a follow-up to Give Up, another band did it for him. Set Yourself On Fire, the third album from the Canadian band Stars, is a soundscape littered with synth-pop melodies, airy atmospheres and a warm feeling of nostalgia for a place you’ve never been but can’t wait to explore.

From the opening exclamation, “When there’s nothing left to burn you have to set yourself on fi re!” to the fi nal line on the album, “I’m alive,” Stars ignite a multitude of feelings in the listener. As soon as the album starts with “Your Ex-Lover is Dead,” the fl oating vocals of Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan thrust the listener into a sonic romance fi lled with feelings of sorrow and victory that layer a tragic-sounding violin and horn base.

Set Yourself On Fire should spark the interest of any experimental music fan, especially with one of the album’s most shining tracks, “Soft Revolution.”

Stars prove they aren’t all about crafting an aural dream, they use the album’s title track to create a sudden sense of speed, like that of a shooting star weaving through the universe.

Most of the songs on this sprawling 13-track disc feature luxoriously over-dramatic musical backgrounds but under the sound, the lyrics carry a timeless sense of love, triumph and rapture.

Stars throw out all of the instrumental stops on the album, using the standard drum-bassguitar formula, but add texture to their sound with violin, cello, viola, french horn, saxophone, keyboards and a glockenspiel.

Listeners of the Postal Service will enjoy the beauty of Stars latest disc which sets out to prove that “setting yourself on fi re” may be one of the best things to do all year. Dramatic band sets fans on fi re

BY NIYAZ PIRANI

Daily Titan Asst. News Editor