There are few presents that can compare with this one in the upcoming holiday season; Ultimate Fakebook has announced a mini winter tour.
by Jenn Long
The Manhattan, Kansas band reunited this past year to release Daydream Radio Is Smiling Static (which you can still download for free from their website here) and even with the album’s release, live shows are sporadic and rare treats. The band just announced a 4-show tour in the MidWest that starts in Arkansas before returning the group to their hometown for a special New Year’s Eve show.
Advance tickets are on sale now and full information on the dates is below.
Tour Dates:
Saturday, December 18
Juanita’s 1300 Main St., Little Rock, AR
Doors: 8 pm Show: 9pm
Ashtray Babyhead/Ultimate Fakebook/The Dead Girls/The Dirty Streets juanitas.com
Sunday, December 19
Firebird
2706 Olive St., St. Louis, MO
Doors: 7pm Show: 7:30pm
Ultimate Fakebook/The Dead Girls/The Orbz/Highway Companion firebirdstl.com
Thursday, Dec. 23
RecordBar
1020 Westport Rd., Kansas City, MO
Doors: 9pm Show: 10pm
Ultimate Fakebook/Creature Comforts/Ashtray Babyhead therecordbar.com
Friday, Dec. 31
Little Apple New Year’s Eve
Aggieville, Manhattan, KS
10,000 people in the streets approx 9:30pm
Ultimate Fakebook/TBA
To help the band win, register at 101 the Fox’s web site and then vote for The Dead Girls to open for KISS at the Sprint Center before 9 p.m. Dec. 7. The show is Dec. 10 at 7 p.m.
As a thank-you for helping the band out, enjoy a free download the band made with Motion City Soundtrack‘s Justin Pierre when he was recently in Lawrence. Just right click and save as:
I already loved Justin Pierre of the moog-friendly Minnesota rock band Motion City Soundtrack. And what’s not to love: funky hair, phenomenal lyrics that balance just the right amount of goof with soul-sharing and a killer knowledge of pop culture. But hearing him defend “New Moon,” to a room full of hipsters swearing they’ll never see that movie and I have to admit, I kind of fell in love with him a little bit more. He sure has some gumption.
Now it isn’t every day that you hear your favorite singer in a record shop talking sharing a movie review, but with Pierre’s Dino Campaign Trail, an acoustic tour in support of the upcoming album out this January, anything could happen. The tour itinerary was decided entirely by twitter and this led Pierre to Lawrence’s Love Garden Sounds to tape a live movie review with Lawrence’s Scene-Stealers.com.
This was their first time in front of a live audience and for such a popular movie, it was not so popular with the audience that considered themselves above such a film. Pierre gave it a solid review though and after hearing his thoughts on the movie, I kind of have a new perspective on it, too. Although, I kind of feel he was really giving “Face Punch” the solid rock fist and not “New Moon.” Oh, “Face Punch. Punch to the Face. Pow pow.”
The movie review was just an added bonus to having Justin in town. The real show would come later, but after the review, he played about four songs acoustic for the audience “Midwest Love Affair,” “Broken Heart,” “Disappear,” and “Fell in Love Without You” and even plugged in his iPod to play a few tracks off the new record. After getting a taste for the pieces, I’m excited, but it sounds a bit different than previous material – more tempo changes and different styles. It might take some getting used to, but knowing them, it will still be good.
As for the actual performance, there was some confusion where it was. Lawrence has plenty of venues, but this show was set at a warehouse for the Blue Collar Distro T-Shirt company. And after driving past several warehouses in an attempt to find the right one, we finally found it with a small group of shivering kids waiting for Justin to finish tuning up so the show could begin. Justin was ready a little before the promised start time, but insisting on waiting to begin at exactly 7 p.m., we held a moment of silence. It was short-lived and I’m glad because Justin is so rarely silent. Heck, during his performance he would even sing the solos of the other instruments.
At first I was sketched out by the location, but as the intimate set determined by requests that included “Indoor Living,” “Future Freaks Me Out,” “Everything Is Alright,” “Fell in Love Without You,” “LG Fuad,” “Disappear,” and more, I realized that this warehouse with green mannequins, t-shirts for up and coming acts and walls covered in not only Motion City Soundtrack posters, but Get Up Kids and Appleseed Cast and other scene-determining bands was the perfect location. It was historic. It was epic.
Justin answered questions dropped some pop culture references and finally called it a night as his voice started giving him some troubles and he still had one more day to go on the dino trail. My MCS-virgin friends that accompanied were eager to go home and check out the band’s other songs as they were impressed by how “pretty” Pierre’s voice was.
I was sad to call it a night, but glad to a part of such a special occasion. I filmed the whole thing and if I can figure out how to break it up to get on YouTube or something, I’ll be sharing it with you all soon, I promise.
As a special holiday treat, while in Lawrence, Justin Pierre recorded a song with local band The Dead Girls. The song is called “It’s All Happening.” And you can download it for free. Just right click and save as. Happy Holidays.
Liberty Hall is a breathtaking music venue, and sometimes a movie theater, with a blue ceiling with swirling, glittery stars. As much as I love the venue, I was a little surprised that Motion City Soundtrack was playing this particular place and I was even more surprised that there wasn’t a barricade for what I anticipated would be a rather pushy set.
To Reinvent started the show and these indie rockers seemed to enchant the audience with their female pianist Kari Gray, but they may have been too laid back to open for a group like MCS as their music came off as a little dull in the grand scheme of the show.
Next was the local group The Dead Girls (formerly Dead Girls Ruin Everything), a group sprung from the ashes of Ultimate Fakebook and Podstar, but this new project seemed to lack in the luster of the original Lawrence and KC staples it grew from. Although, they guys in this group did look more confident moving around the stage than the younger To Reinvent that preceded them.
Dear and the Headlights followed. I caught these guys opening for Jimmy Eat World in the spring and it was a blast to see them in a more intimate setting. Ian Metzger‘s vocals got mixed reactions. But, of all the openers these guys instrumentally shined and it was a thrill to watch different band members come up and hit cymbals throughout the set.
There is no doubt that Motion City Soundtrack deserved to be headlining this show. They delivered a killer set with a great mix of songs from all their albums. And even though they had a great set prepared for the show, they threw in “Hold Me Down” after the audience persistently requested it.
The special award for the night has to go out to their crew who kept really busy throughout the night grabbing the crowd surfers as they landed on stage. I’m sure they’ll rethink the no barricade thing next time. Although, Justin Pierre didn’t seem to mind sharing the stage with the surfers and even took the time to talk to a few.
“What’s your name?” Pierre asked one girl, who replied, “Katie.” When he asked her how to spell it, she yelled “K-State!” Which left Pierre looking a little confused, since I’m not sure he knew he was in the rival school of KU’s town, but he nicely recovered saying, “That’s not how you spell that. What are they teaching in these Kansas schools?” Everybody was in a playful mood and loving the show. Jesse Johnson threw a bottle cap at Pierre at one point during the set.
The music was fun, as usual, the band banter was hilarious, and this can be chalked up as yet another phenemonal performance from this band.
Set List:
Better
My Favorite Accident
When You’re Around
Make Out Kids
Capital H
Last Night
I Fell In Love W/O You
Attractive
Broken Heart
Time Turned Fragile
This Is For Real
L.G. FUAD
It Had To Be You
Hold Me Down
Perfect Teeth
Everything Is Alright
//
Point of Extinction
The Future Freaks Me Out
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