Emo music has made a strong resurgence in the past few years – with plenty of bands reuniting to tour, and “Emo Nites” popping up in major cities in the country and bringing the crowds out in droves. Knowing this, there is no surprise that hometown hero Chris Carrabba and Dashboard Confessional sold out Revolution Live on a Wednesday night. Despite the fact that their last record was released over seven years ago – nearly every stop on the tour has sold out.
The night was opened by This Wild Life, a rock duo from Long Beach, California, made up of Kevin Jordan and Anthony Del Grosso. I was absolutely blown away by these guys from the moment they took the stage. Jordan's vocals are delicate and the music transfers beautifully to the stage. The lush acoustics of the bands new sound are beyond captivating and fully engulf you in their performance. Jordan chatted briefly with the crowd, explaining they had made a 48 hour drive in their van from Vancouver to Boston to jump on this tour. This Wild Life has been posting tour video covers of popular songs, and Fort Lauderdale was treated to a cover of Blink-182's “First Date.” I will definitely be keeping my eye on these guys, I can't begin to imagine what they could accomplish given more than thirty minutes on stage. Towards the end of the set, Jordan told the story of a past girlfriend that purchased him his first guitar, under the condition she learned a song for him. That song? Screaming Infidelities. Vinyl Theatre of Milwaukee, Wisconsin followed up next. These guys exploded in popularity after their tour with Twenty One Pilots. The crowd danced and bopped around to their set, but the set felt underwhelming as a good majority of it was newer songs. Once the fans have the opportunity to learn the songs I'm sure they'll be just as successful live as their older songs.
To the South Florida kids that grew up in the early 2000's, Chris Carrabba was a staple at local shows. From playing acoustically in between other bands sets – to gaining success with Dashboard Confessional – Carrabba has been Fort Lauderdale’s king of acoustic. Dashboard took the stage to a crowd of people that have watched them grow from a a local act to a national touring band. The band kicked off the set with the “The Good Fight” and you could tell instantly that, despite the size of the crowd, this was gonna be one killer intimate performance. If there is one thing that is consistently notable about a Dashboard show, it is the bands ability to connect with the crowd through their music. Carrabba gives off a ridiculously humble vibe, as he takes pause to smile out at the crowd. “Thank you everyone for coming out, it’s a sold out crowd – we did it!” Carrabba shouted after “Saints and Sailors.” The passion sparked by Dashboard selling out their hometown club is apparent as the band shreds through their set flawlessly.
Throughout the night, the crowd’s voiced rivaled that of Carrabba’s as each person screamed out their songs of their teenage years. The band closed out their set with their most well known hits “Vindicated,” “Screaming Infidelities,” and an encore of “Hands Down.” The club reverberated as the crowd drowned out the band, belting out as loud as they could, knowing the night was coming to an end. Dashboard is impeccable at taking songs that resonated with us in our youth and keep it relevant and just as heartwrenching to our adult selves. And now we just hold out for that “some day” that the next album will be released.