Bayside Cults Tour: El Corazón

By: JP

• Mixtapes

• Daylight

• Four Year Strong

• Bayside

Snarky jabs cut through the audience reducing the typically 21 foot stage of the main showroom at El Corazón into an area as intimate as any living room.

Mixtapes opened the night up with a *pop* March 14, 2014.

You couldn’t miss a word said on stage or on the floor. The person making a comment could have just as easily been right next to you or 20 feet away. Everyone was listening that hard.

Some knew the lyrics (thank you regular rotation at KGRG FM) and it felt like direct eye contact was made with each person singing along between bouts of bouncing around on stage.

Each person in Mixtapes showed that they had hops (except the drummer, because, well, drums). They jumped to each song which was fun to watch. Unfortunately, this made the crowd look completely lethargic in comparison, like a lulled flubby bunch, despite clear indicators of appreciative listening. Disappointed by the lack of reciprocation of effort, a certain KGRG DJ helped start a rhythmic clap. {You’re welcome}

The banter between the band and the audience was absolute gold, taking things out of context and telling stories. Topics ranged from digging at other cities on the tour and remembering the last time they played Seattle.

One of the jokes ended up with guitarist Ryan Rockwell, ridiculing their lead vocalist, Maura Weaver, because she’s “just a woman”, which resulted with a hiss from a few members of the audience. Making it pretty clear that sarcastic sexist jokes aren’t always welcome no matter how good of friends band mates are. 

This familiarity, in between songs, made the music more accessible and relatable to the audience. We’ve all made bad jokes at our friends expense and get caught up in the randomness of life. Add a microphone to the mix and all hell breaks loose. (Something a lot of radio DJ’s at the station can relate to). 

Here’s the kicker, Mixtapes was fun. 

We finally got moving during their last song, as one of our own jumped on stage and sang along.

This blurry guest vocals just happened. At least we’re moving. @KGRGFM @MixtapesOhio @ElCorazonSEA pic.twitter.com/RTi2ecEKoy

— Jean Pierre Garcia (@preslammedpoet)

March 15, 2014

The musical difference between Mixtapes’ cheery pop-punk style, nostalgically-angst driven lyrics, and the heavy sludge/grunge/emo sick-ness that is Daylight, is well…night and day.

But the personalities behind the music were spot on with stage banter. They were just some dudes there to play some music. The attitude and jokes in between sets made Daylight seem like your buddy’s band, if your buddy could shred and tour with Bayside.

#nirvanastorytime daylightpa​

— Jean Pierre Garcia (@preslammedpoet)

March 15, 2014

One of Daylight’s stories included a gig in Olympia where some dudes pulled in from the road and went up to them misty eyed and keyed into the glory days of Nirvana when they played outside of Aberdeen. The comparison between Nirvana back then and how Daylight sounds now was extremely palpable.

With long hair hiding the face of their vocalist, the story resonated and seemed like a huge honor reinforced as they played. This energized and warmed the crowd up to a point where headbanging was a bit more commonplace.

When he asked the crowd to give it up for Mixtapes, he also asked why they got booed for saying a sexist comment.  

“Oh he was just joking around, you know making a ha-ha funny.“

The breaks in between the music closed the gap between musicians and audience and kept it personal, until Four Year Strong came on. Which is when everything went nuts.

It helped illustrate the difference between the opening bands and the headliners of the night. We were warmed up in every essence of the word. The bands prior were approachable and funny. Four Year Strong and Bayside had a slightly different approach and a different set of expectations. 

. @fouryearstrong tearing it up at @ElCorazonSEA pic.twitter.com/NnYFcDkLgd

— The All New KGRG-FM (@KGRGFM)

March 15, 2014

The front-row squeezed in tighter. Center stage was a primary target. Human body contact increased and raised up the heat on the thermostat in the room to a sweaty bazillion degrees leaving people to crowd surf for air.

Moshing kicked in hard, instead of the ironic “this is the part where you mosh” comment made earlier in the Mixtapes set by Weaver. Bodies were pushing up and over as countless crowd surfers took the stage.There was no winning people over with a funny story or side comment. Four Year Strong played a single chord and the people were already won. 

It didn't stop when Bayside took the stage, despite the holy-hell-thank-you relief of water dousing to cool everyone off in the venue. The crowd surfing got to the point where vocalist Anthony Raneri’s mic was completely side swiped across the stage. And that’s around the time I lost track of everything because people, music, and Bayside weaved in and out of moshing focus. 

Duality. Good times. Enough said.

baysideband at El Corazon! #GteatBand #GreatCrowd #GoodMusic #SEA #Seattle #Music #LiveMusic http://t.co/w2kPNBROJd

— El Corazon (@ElCorazonSEA)

March 15, 2014

I was fatigued but now I’m just content. That concert high. I moshed, stayed up front, got soaked in water, sweat and it was awesome.

— Jean Pierre Garcia (@preslammedpoet)

March 15, 2014