By By Ryan Broderick, News Editor
California pop punk/ indie rock band, Say Anything, played the Adams Playhouse Saturday. Opening for them was the forgettable Mike Del Rio and the annoyingly insincere TV/ TV. The performances, were, as always, thanks to Hofstra Concerts, engineered flawlessly.
The opening acts were also a study in faked sincerity and how to use a back track. The worst perpetrator of the canned concert experience was Mike Del Rio. The only instrument that played unaided during his 30-minute too long 30-minute performance was the drums. He had the audacity to have canned vocals. At that point you’re watching karaoke. At that point, why see a band live?
TV/TV wasn’t much better, living up to their nonsensical, meaningless name with nonsensical, meaningless music. But meaningless pop rock isn’t horrible on its own; it was the desperation of their front man pleading to the audience to bop along with them. On the band’s MySpace, they describe themselves as a combination of The Killers, The Bravery and Jet. That should give you an idea of how genuine their music could sound.
And that was the problem with Mike Del Rio and TV/TV. They’re lazy, generic, examples of the indie rock/dance rock scene hitting critical mass. The minute you get football players grabbing guitars your music scene is over. Mike Del Rio and TV/TV would make Joy Division’s Ian Curtis commit suicide all over again if he found out the music he helped make would get the Maroon 5 treatment 30 years later.
But how was the main act? Did Say Anything earn their place as headliner? They sounded unbelievable. They were tight, clean, focused, but not overly polished, either. They played a decent mixture of songs and even treated the audience to two new ones from their upcoming album, “Say Anything.” Front man Max Bemis led the crowd well and his five other band mates fleshed their songs out with intricate guitar, thumping bass, strong and reasoned drums and twinkling keys.
In comparison to the opening acts, desperate for real energy and genuine chemistry, Say Anything actually had it. Their songs rose and fell and exploded as each member worked together, if there was a back track it was barely audible and probably unnecessary. They sounded like a band that knew what they were doing.
But like a lot of things at Hofstra University, Say Anything’s performance was marred by the stu¬dents they were playing for. There were students singing and attempting to dance, but ultimately looking out at the audience, there was very little else besides standing with the occasional swaying. It might have been the seats that filled the Playhouse, possibly not an ideal venue for a rock band. Of course, it also might be that college campuses aren’t known for their kinetic and receptive audi¬ences. Perhaps college kids are just too cool to dance, Hofstra apparently is.
But audience and abysmal opening acts aside, Say Anything played well and as they ended their encore with singer Max Bemis alone on stage playing guitar, they made it clear that they were a real band. It’s too bad there weren’t any others.