I Gave My Heart To Rock N' Roll

The Sounds w/ Foxy Shazam
October 26, 2009
Commodore Ballroom

Last night I finally had the chance to fulfil a dream I’ve had for the past six or so years: seeing the Sounds play a headlining show. As far as I know they haven’t played one here since I’ve been of age and the only time I was able to see them was at Warped Tour (and if you’ve ever been to Warped Tour, you know that barely counts).

The opening act was a band I’d never heard of called Foxy Shazam. They played that semi-ironic brand of late 70s/80s inspired rock (and they dress the part too) that I probably wouldn’t have taken seriously if I heard it on record first, but these guys put on a hell of a show. There were handstands, magic tricks, staged fights, high fives, people crawling across the stage, guitars thrown into the crowd, and at one point I’m pretty sure the signer ate a couple cigarettes. They definitely succeeded in getting everyone pumped.


[look at those fucking hipsters]

During the time between sets I realized this wasn’t going to be the most civil crowd. People were already shoving their way to the front and some girls got into a fight with a couple guys to the right of me and started smacking them in the head.

Finally The Sounds hit the stage and everyone went nuts. I could try and be objective here, but all I can really say is that they were absolutely amazing. Maja might just be my new favourite front woman (or maybe I‘ll call it a three way tie). She completely owned that stage. They played a pretty varied set that covered all three records. Highlights included “Seven Days a Week,” “Ego,” “Living in America,” and “Painted By Numbers” which was especially awesome live. There was also an incredibly off key “Night After Night” sing along where people pulled their lighters out. At one point Maja did a stage dive and crowd surfed over us. I’m not embarrassed to admit that I acted like a ridiculous fangirl when I got to grab her hand. It was like I was 15 all over again.



They closed the night with “Hope You’re Happy Now” and a pit opened up in the crowd. I can’t even remember the last time I was in an actual mosh pit, but I definitely remembered why I stopped putting up with that mess. Maja claimed we were the most energetic crowd of the tour and promised she wasn’t just saying that for the sake of saying it and said she'd tell everyone else. For once, I actually believed her because people were completely insane. There was a non-stop wave of crowd surfers and not enough security to catch them. I left the venue having accidentally ingested the hair of several strangers and covered in sweat that was mostly not my own, but it was absolutely worth it (even if I keep finding new places that hurt every time I stand up). If you’re even a casual fan and you haven’t seen The Sounds yet, what the hell are you waiting for?

Oh yeah, and on a completely unrelated topic, I should mention that we did get to see Jay-Z a couple weeks back and he was all inspiring and shit. Just sayin'.