After entering, we proceeded to walk to the doors of the theatre itself. It was dark and the band Unwed Sailor was already playing. Their peaceful, completely instrumental music made the challenge of finding our seats in the dark much more relaxing. When we arrived, our seats were taken, but we decided it best to avoid confrontation and sit a few seats over.
After Unwed Sailor was Mat Kearney. Being an alternative Christian band, they play very lively music. The crowd decided that they were going to do exactly the opposite of lively. Most of the crowd literally just stood there. They were very disappointing. Mat Kearney tried several things to get the crowd active, but many attempts, like running through the crowd and teaching them a special part of the song to sing, had almost no effect on their liveliness. I got into it, but the crowd apparently thought it lacked the ability of immersion.
Mat Kearney left the stage, and the main act had finally arrived. The whole audience roared as Adam Young walked onto the stage and began to sing “The Real World.” Owl City proved to be a great live concert. They didn’t just play their songs, they added to them. They blended songs from both of their major albums together and made them sound like they were supposed to do that. They changed their songs to have different intros and different sounds, and gave other songs various effects. “Fireflies” for example had an amazing punk rock intro to it that totally took me off guard.
The light show was amazing. The lights mixed perfectly with the music, hitting every beat just right. Occasionally, one of the stage lights would cast a shadow of Adam Young onto the entire side wall which added to the show. The concert wouldn’t have been the same without the lights, but one thing that occurred as a problem once again, was the audience. Besides cheering when the performance began, the crowd did nothing but stand there yet again. Adam Young did more dancing on the stage than the audience did while listening to his songs. He frolicked around the stage and spun his guitars around his body but none of that impressed the crowd.
Owl City should be known as an amazing concert experience and anytime you see the name of the band headlining, don’t let it turn you away. This is truly a great concert, but make sure if you go, you act lively. No one likes boring people at a concert.
