Photo by Matthew McAndrew
I don’t really want to write a review for this show, so I will just take another review and comment on it. What follows are points made by BlogTO contributor, Matthew McAndrew, who attended the show. I will either agree, disagree or make fun of his review of the show.
Matthew Says: Fellow Seattleites Say Hi (formerly Say Hi To Your Mom) played back to back sets, serving as both the sole opening act and Bazan’s supporting band.
Panic Says: I agree. Say Hi did open up for Dan Bazan of Pedro The Lion
Matthew Says: To be honest, I didn’t have very high expectations for this Seattle-based threepiece.
Panic Says: I had high expectations. The last time we saw Say Hi was at Sneaky Dees when they toured their Impeccable Blahs (2006) album. It was a good show.
Matthew Says: Their set was filled with infectious, anthemic rock songs that, at times, veer towards pop-punk more so than they do towards the lo-fi indie sound evident on their studio recordings.
Panic Says: Infectious, anthemic, rock, pop-punk, lo-fi, and indie. Matthew gets a thumbs down for using six non-descript and overused music performance adjectives in one sentence which ultimately confuses the reader as to what type of music was actually performed.
Matthew Says: Their predictable formula of simple, steady basslines, aggressive drumming and a single guitarist made many of their tracks sound one dimensional and ultimately generic. It’s a shame his vocals were so low…
Panic Says: I agree. The drumming seemed to drown out the lyrics, which are one of Say Hi’s strengths. During one of their last songs, the drummer was restricted to drumming with only one hand as he was working a shaker with his other. This allowed the vocals to really come through and added some dimension to the song. Conclusion; cut one of your drummer’s arm off to improve your bands sound. It worked for Def Leppard.
Matthew Says: The three members of Say Hi barely had the chance to leave the stage before they were back in the spotlight. Joined by Blake Wescott on lead guitar, Say Hi functioned tonight as Dan Bazan’s backing band.
Panic Says: I assume that this true since we left after Say Hi’s set, but it makes total sense since the two are touring together.