popwreckoning

Rock, electronica, hip hop…oh my! Pac Sun Tour offers a diverse line up and it going into the show, I knew this could either be really scary or something truly special. It wasn’t long before I could confirm that this the latter.

For select major cities, a local band is given the chance to open the show after winning a Battle of the Bands competition. Headliners Saosin came up with the idea to help local scenes out. For the Kansas City show, piano rockers A.M.I.M. won the battle and kicked things off. I’m not sure if they just brought a lot of their friends or if they just impressed the audience that much, but people were really into their set. I could see some potential. They had great stage presence and had skills on their various instrument. They were unified and didn’t overpower each other, which would be easy to do in a young band. However, they still have lots of room for improvement before they can start taking over radio waves. Lyrically they are a  bit weak…”It’s been three years. It’s so sincere. The chandeliers have disappeared.” Um, wtf?

After A.M.I.M. was Eye Alaska. These guys might have been my favorite act of the night even if I thought some of their set got a little repetitive. I went into their set with a curiosity. I hadn’t really heard them, but I had heard that their pianist/guitarist is the brother of Thrice‘s Dustin Kensrue. Eye Alaska stand out on their own and I after hearing them, while the brother connection most likely helps, they don’t need it. They don’t sound anything like Thrice, so the tidbit should just fade aways as some random trivia as they continue making their own impression on thew world of music. They were phenomenal and I think they’re poised to blow up as big as other popular warped bands likes Paramore. I’ve heard them described as “new wave,” but aside from the piano on a few songs, I don’t get that at all. They’re more pop rock/alternative. They’re incredibly hardworking too. The guys are doing acoustic instores at practically every stop and they’re down to earth. Even if their brand of music isn’t your style, their work ethic alone should make you want to support them.

I had similar feelings toward P.O.S. Hip hop isn’t my usual style, but I just wanted to support the guy. Again, you had yet another down to earth guy (in fact, all the bands on this tour were super down to earth, humble and genuine) that has music different than your usual expectations associated with that genre. Forget how Soulja Boy made you hate hip hop with his sleazy “Crank Dat,” P.O.S. actually has something to say with his music and he samples a wider variety of influences such as jazz. This is hip hop the way it was meant to be. The way that groups like Run-DMC envisioned it. Not those guys other guys on MTV that are wearing so many grillz you can’t even understand a word they’re saying.

True to their name, Innerpartysystem brought a party. With a light show that they say is actually a bit toned down from their usual show, they had carefully thought out their presentation just as thoroughly as their set list. The electronica beats effortlessly glided the party from one song to the next so the crowd keep up with “Don’t Stop” and other songs without a stop.

I’m not sure I can do headliners Saosin justice for their performance with a full review since I was off doing interviews during much of their set. From what I did see, I enjoyed. They are an alternative rock group with high energy and an edginess that makes them appeal to the screamo-sort of loves-to-mosh crowd, yet they have a softness and a vocal control that makes it so they’d still be pretty awesome for a guy to take a girl out on a date to see. With the way the various genres that opened for them and their own ability to appeal to various genres, I could see why they were given the headlining slot.

The tour continues until December 20. Check out additional information and dates here: pacsun.com/pactour.

PopWreckoning has interviewed all these bands. Check out the interview with Innerpartysystem here. The rest are coming soon!

Jamie Foxx Intuition

Fall Out Boy Folie A Deux

We The Kings Secret Valentine EP :: stream

All-American Rejects When the World Comes Down :: review

Keysha Cole A Different Me :: stream “Playa Cardz Right” | stream “You Complete Me”

Soulja Boy Tell’em iSouljaBoyTellem

We Landed on the Moon! These Little Wars

He started a dance craze with last year’s “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” so let’s see if Soulja Boy can do it again with “Bird Walk”:

Soulja Boy: website | myspace

After listening to everybody singing that obnoxious Soulja Boy song and getting over the shock of seeing little kids dancing to the inappropriate lyrics, I must admit, that I’ve been a little leery of modern hip hop. However, when PopWreckoning’s very own Ace Fadal suggested attending a showcase featuring Kansas City’s hip hop scene, I decided to give hip hop another chance and I am really glad I did.

I arrived at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre’s Copaken Stage not really knowing what to expect and consequently I was really pleasantly surprised by all the cool things happening at Hollapalooza. The purpose of the showcase was to promote a new hip hop musical Clay and to represent the four aspects of hip hop: graffiti, djing, b-boying and emceeing. Hollapalooza pulled this off in an inventive way that kept the audience involved. This wasn’t your usual concert because you didn’t just get to listen to hip hop, but you truly experienced it. The audience was completely immersed in hip hop.

Breakdown of the Four Aspects:
Graffiti: The stage was set up so that there were four easels along the back wall where four artists, in a demonstration of graffiti, were painting pieces representing the four aspects. One of the artists even pulled double duty and took a break from his b-boy painting to perform under his moniker Lucid. This was probably one of my favorite parts of the showcase because it was completely unexpected and it was really fun to watch the pieces develop throughout the day.

DJ/Turntablism: In between the rappers and sometimes in concurrence, DJs would set up on one of the two tables on either side of the stage. They had a difficult task because their sets could go one of two ways: they could end up as just background music as the audience took a little break due, as the day was quite lengthy, or they could end up starting a big dance party. The truly successful DJs like Sike Style had members of the crowd hopping up to center stage. During Sike Style’s set, a group of guys even started a back and forth freestyling rap off.

B-boying: This was the coolest aspect to see come together. While the stage was prepared for it, there wasn’t a set performance planned. It was audience dependent, so it was really cool to see members of the crowd hop up on stage and start dancing. Skill levels ranged, but everybody was really supportive of the other dancers. I was especially impressed by this guy in the purple pants who adapted to the DJs changing beats really well. Another person who impressed me was this little kid (under the age of ten) who hopped up there with all the older guys to show them how it should be done.

Emceeing/Rapping: This was the aspect of hip hop I think most are familiar with and it was the only aspect I had expected to see. It was also the aspect I was most nervous of because the lyrics of these can range from really vulgar sexual references like the aforementioned Soulja Boy song to actually having lyrics with deeper meanings. I must say I was quite impressed with the lyrics I heard from these rappers. On occasion, a performer would curse prompting an audience member to shout out, “There are little kids in here!” but for the most part, the performers were really good and had lyrics talking about things that deal with in their day to day lives. They all had really great audience interaction that had some of them like Kloudi out in the seats or a sing along like Milkdrop‘s and Reach‘s duet, “If the soul keeps rocking, the streets will keep rocking.” Milkdrop was probably one of my favorite sets and he had it right when he rapped a capella style, “I’m a hard act to follow.”

Overall, this was a really impressive day that surpassed all my expectations. If you live in the KC area I strongly recommend checking out Clay, the musical in which this was produced in conjunction. Clay hits the Copaken stage September 6-28, 2008.

KC Repertory Theatre: website | Hollapalooza | Clay | buy tickets for Clay

Written by: Bethany