...And the Rest Will Follow Tour show review.

[Kkun]

This is a review of Project 86's current tour that I saw last night. It was a great show. If you read all of this, then God bless you.

To start, let's rewind to roughly a year and a half ago, to a 17 year old caricature of myself. The last time I saw Project 86 was nearly a year and a half ago at Cornerstone Florida on May 7, 2004. At that time, I had mostly stopped listening to Project (for whatever reason I can't remember...I think I got into the whole metal thing and decided they weren't hard enough) but my interest had been reignited when I heard A Shadow On Me on their website. My dear friends Rob, Winn, myself, and a host of others drove the 7 hours for Cornerstone but for Winn and I, it was all about Project 86 and Blindside.

Project 86 played for about two hours after Cornerstone Florida had officially started, at around 5:00 PM. The room was pitch black except for the low, distorted hum of guitarist Randy Torres manipulating the strings, giving the room a very disconcerting feel. I remember waiting in anticipation, not knowing what to expect, when the lights kicked on and the lead singer of Project 86, Andrew Schwab, burst onto the stage. He grabbed the microphone, thrashing about furiously, dancing across the stage and the band kicked into "Oblivion" (which eventually became one of my favorite Project 86 songs once their 'Songs To Burn Your Bridges By' re-release dropped a mere two weeks later). Their drummer, whose name escapes me, was not Alex Albert who was taking a break to spend some time with his new wife. However, with his mohawk and frenzied playing, the drummer did not disappoint. Bassist Steven Dail provided the meat of Project's sound and at this show, it sounded better than even the studio recordings. And, of course, Randy Torres shredded his guitar effectively and provided lovely backing vocals. It was magical. The band tore through roughly 10 songs and my love of Project 86 had been reignited from a spark to a full-blown fire.

So, fast forward to yesterday. The attraction: "And the Rest Will Follow Tour" featuring The Fold, Mourning September, Number One Gun, Spoken, and Project 86. The date: October 18, 2005. Dramatis personae: Winn, Rob, myself, and a host of roughly 75 screaming kids. We arrived at the venue, New Brookland Tavern, late because a Fuddruckers sign and starvation joined together to viciously assault Rob, forcing him to turn his car into their fine burger establishment. We got to the venue around 7:15, hurrying in to grab our pre-ordered tickets so that we would not be left out in the cold (or, being South Carolina, the heat).

It was nice to be back in that familiar place, the New Brookland Tavern. Stickers and posters for thousands of bands adorned the walls, the smell of cigarettes filled the air and the tiny stage had around 30 kids in front of it, with the rest scattered about the small music venue. We, unfortunately, missed The Fold but arrived just in time for Mourning September to begin.

Mourning September put on a show that was not bad at all. I enjoyed it. They sounded like a million other rock bands that exist right now, but that's okay because what Mourning September does, they do well. They played roughly four or five songs, and some of the crowd was getting into it, singing along. They were pretty tight, musically, and I would say their set was about a 6 out of 10. Good stuff, but they were rushed since they were one of the opening bands.

Next up was Number One Gun, who has just recently released an album on Tooth and Nail records called "Promises For the Imperfect". They began the set quietly, with a haunting recording of a small child talking about a promise made to imperfect people before ripping into the song "Pretend" from their new album. Number One Gun played a really good set and they were musically tight, energetic band. Set highlights were "Pretend", and "We Are". I give them a 7 out of 10. After their set, the crowd began to fill in more and we waited for Spoken to come out. I had no idea what to expect from Spoken, but it was only about fifteen minutes before I would find out...

Spoken, I am ashamed to say, has always been one of those bands that I've written off as being something I would have enjoyed if I was about 12. I always thought of them in the same vein as Thousand Foot Krutch (apologies to TFK fans reading this). I never really gave them a chance, except for their new song "Bitter Taste", and the two old fan favorite sing-alongs "Falling Further" and "Promise".

Boy, was I wrong.

Spoken came out swinging and ended up victorious, winning the crowd over quickly with lead singer Matt Baird's charisma and powerful voice. He sounded like some weird cross between Claudio Sanchez from Coheed and Cambria (only a few octaves lower) and his violent shrieks reminded me of the boys from the Blood Brothers. Spoken came out to impress and did not fail. I was blown away. Their stage presence was impressive and they were pretty tight musically, even while missing one guitarist. There was a bit of fanservice as well, with their cover of Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time". You might know it as the song from the awkward school dance scene in Napoleon Dynamite ("I like your sleeves. They're real puffy.") and throwing the chorus to "Beating Heart Baby" by Head Automatica in the middle of a song. Their show was impressive and powerful. They get a 9 out of 10 and Jamie's Gold Fajita of Approval.

Well, that was exciting. I enjoyed that. Good stuff. Now what? Oh, yeah. The reason we came. Project 86. Spoken began to take down their set and the first member of Project 86, Randy Torres, made his first appearance. Winn and I were standing directly in front of him as he set up his pedal boards. Next to the stage was drummer Alex Albert, who was putting the drums together. Then came Steven Dail, the bassist. The band finished their setup after about 10 minutes or so. The lights died, and a piano intro began to play...and then, lead singer Andrew Schwab burst onto the stage to an eruption of applause and screams. The band began their set with the first track off of their new CD, "Sincerely, Ichabod". It was met with the many fans screaming along the lyrics, "Off with your head/we'll take it all back and then some, never again/Off with your head/we'll cut out all that's a hindrance, bleed me open/Off with your head!"

The band played a good mix of songs from all of their albums, minus their self-titled. Andrew made a funny joke about "This is from our triple-platinum album Drawing Black Lines." and then everyone laughed and he was so excited that we got the joke because he had been saying that the entire tour and no one got it. The band was fantastic and their set was great. The only disappointments for me personally were the lack of "Little Green Men" from Truthless Heroes, and "Oblivion" from Songs To Burn Your Bridges By.

Every song was met with a giant circle pit in the back and the crowd sometimes overpowered Andrew's voice. The only criticisms I can make about the show were that the left speaker was messed up (not the band's fault) and Andrew was suffering from a cold so his voice was a bit higher than it should be (also not something that could be helped).

The band finished their set with Last Meal from Truthless Heroes, All of Me from And The Rest Will Follow, and finally, the fan-favorite and quite possibly the best performance of the evening, track one from Drawing Black Lines: Stein's Theme.

All in all, Project and company put together a fantastic show. Also, thanks to the stage hand who gave me the set list which my friend and I tore in half and each took half of. This show was a 9 out of 10. Project never ceases to amaze me and it was worth a year and a half between shows. All of the bands played well and I cannot wait to see Project and Spoken again. Fan-freaking-tastic.

[Stephen]

Awesome stuff man. And yes I read the whole thing. Did they play Chapter 2 and Me against me? I have missed em twice up here...hopefully they hit around here sometime soon.

[Kkun]

They did play Me Against Me. Once I talk to my friend, I'll post the whole set list.

[Stephen]

Score. Then the show was complete. They really should do more shows in Maine. Freaken Cali bands...