When I bought my tickets three months ago for The Outsiders Tour, I thought that I had made the best purchase for the approaching fall concert season.
I was very wrong.
On Sunday Nov. 9, I anticipated having an excellent time seeing Metro Station, the band I have been a fan of since I was 14 and spent my hard earned work money to see. I did not get what I expected.
Before I even arrived at the venue, my iPhone GPS took me to a fish market across the street, which should have been where the venue was, and from then on the evening did not improve much.
I did end up finding the venue once I pulled into the sketchy looking parking lot, and a man flashing a light in my eyes greeted me ever so kindly. He eventually stopped flashing his light at me when my friend handed him five dollars for parking and we went on our way. When we got out of the car, we couldn’t help but notice he was greeting every other patron in the same rude fashion.
We waited in line with the rest of the high school kids, who we assumed did not drive there on their own, and mentally prepared what was now turning into a terrible time.
Walking into the venue, GameChanger World in Howell, NJ, we did not expect the atmosphere to be what it was.
According to their website, GameChanger World is “a state of the art event space.” I didn’t realize that every concession stand at an ice skating rink is considered to be “state of the art,” because that is exactly what this place looked like. Already, I knew that I was not going to have a good time.
I assumed there would only be three bands performing that night (The Downtown Fiction, Metro Station and The Ready Set), but I was very wrong.
The show began with a Brian Dales look-alike singing some sappy love songs that anyone between the ages of 12 and 17 would find fabulous. He sang three of these generic tunes and made his way off stage. Also, for those of you that don’t know who Brian Dales is, he’s the lead singer of The Summer Set and he is very attractive.
Shortly after, The Downtown Fiction performed and they were by far the best band of the night. Their energy level was consistently up throughout their set and their music was enjoyable to listen to.
Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the band that performed next. What I thought was going to be Metro Station was instead a band of teenagers with a lead singer that could not sing. This band, Against the Current, wins the award for the worst live performance I have ever endured.
I’m almost positive that the girl who sang was in fact lip syncing the entire time, except for when she attempted to perform a cover of Paramore’s “Ain’t It Fun,” because that was by far the worst part of the evening.
Having seen Paramore live and watched them perform that song, it was an embarrassment that this girl even attempted to sing it. She clearly did not know the words and was off-pitch for the entirety of the song. I sat there with my arms crossed because that is how insulted I felt by that performance.
Finally the terrible band went off stage, and after some quick set changes, Metro Station finally went on.
You would think I would have been super excited to watch them because that is who I initially went there to see, but no. As far as I could tell, Metro Station could not have cared less to be playing at the venue that night.
They seemed incredibly bored throughout their whole performance, and while Mason Musso was putting in a conscious effort to play his instrument and sing, Trace Cyrus was changing his outfit every two songs and mindlessly interacting with the crowd.
Even when the lead singer of The Ready Set came on to rap during one of Metro Station’s songs, I was so unimpressed to the point that I didn’t care.
I left immediately after Metro Station performed because I could not justify wanting to stay another minute to watch The Ready Set. (I don’t even really like them that much anyway, because their music is saturated with pop and electric beats that I couldn’t endure more disappointment.)
So for those of you that are fans of this music, don’t bother paying to see them live. Go ahead and listen to their songs all you want, but don’t waste your money on a concert ticket. You’re better off putting that money towards seeing someone like Taylor Swift.
IMAGES TAKEN from instagram.com
IMAGES TAKEN from purevolume.com
