The Take Action Tour
Chiodos, Emery, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, A Static Lullaby, Kaddisfly
Philadelphia, PA • March 24, 2007
Brittany Sturges
With an hour before show time, it’s easy to say that I was quite shocked to arrive at the Electric Factory and see the line stretch out of the parking lot and three-fourths down the street. As I walked past all the kids to get my tickets from will call, I noticed that a lot of them had on the same Red Jumpsuit Apparatus shirt. I approached the will call window, I.D. in hand, when suddenly a note in the window caught my eye.
“Due to illness, the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus will not be performing tonight.”
Oh hell.
As I got my tickets, I looked out at the line; all the fans adorned in the band’s gear were talking away, laughing and seeming somewhat excited.
Did they know?
The answer? No. A lot of them didn’t know. So when one worker came out to the crowd to tell them, you can expect that they weren’t happy. For some, upset was a bit of an understatement .It turns out that RJA’s lead singer, Ronnie, was sick and wouldn’t be able to perform. Apparently there had been no announcement from anyone until now. Yet, there wasn’t all bad news. The show would continue and there would be a special headliner in their place– Chiodos, who had just played the Taste of Chaos Tour a couple days prior. Some RJA fans were pumped– it was a better offer. Others, however, were not pleased and tried to sell their tickets, some leaving altogether.
Kaddisfly was the first act on stage with a very mediocre stage show; the kids in the crowd weren’t really getting into the music. I hadn’t even known that they were on the bill until they walked on stage.
A Static Lullaby was up next. Their vocalist, Joe Brown, was trying to get the crowd pumped for RJA, until a backstage worker rushed out with an envelope, with information that RJA wasn’t performing. After the little mistake, the show went on with the group rocking out in a very spasmotic way. I’d never really cared for the tracks I had heard from them, but they were amazing live.
Scary Kids Scaring Kids followed, getting the whole crowd jumping and moshing. However, it wasn’t until the end of their set that they really had me noticing them; that was when their keyboard player went climbing off the stage and dived into their crowd.
Emery followed suit and the crowd learned that yet another lead singer would not be singing; their normal frontman, Toby Morell, had laryngitis. Yet, he’d be playing the guitar in the back and the fans would still get to see them. Bassist Devin Shelton stepped up on vocals (he usually does back-up, so it wasn’t that far-fetched). At one point, he even began talking to the audience about the whole RJA ordeal and then, the band broke into the first stanza and the bridge of RJA’s single, “Face Down.” Fans went CRAZY. You know what? It didn’t sound bad– in fact, it sounded almost exactly like the original. At the end of their set, their keyboard player went off into the audience as well; he tried to climb to the balcony (where the 21+ people sit), yet couldn’t because of the amp placement. So instead, he dove into the crowd, much to their delight.
Chiodos was up next. Before they took the stage, however, fans grew impatient and started throwing water bottles up toward the photo pit and the stage. Security and photographers (including myself) were dodging the plastic bottles left and right. When the music started, the bottle throwing ended and the moshing began. Chiodos started off strong and the kids were into it. However, their set didn’t do it for me– nothing made me want to rush to the nearest store (or in this case, the merch table) and get their CD. I think Emery would have made a better headliner, but considering circumstances, it was nice of Chiodos to offer to fill the slot.
Overall, the Take Action Tour was a bit disappointing with the band line-up, but it still supported a good cause and that’s the thing to remember in the end.
