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Saves the Day / Envy on the Coast

live in Farmingdale
2006
live show

Review by: Brian
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Saves the Day (link)

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Published on September 26th 2006

Even when I couldn't be less interested in the bands opening for Saves the Day, chances are, I'm going to see Saves the Day.

What I heard of Pistolita didn't strike me particularly strong. Some singing. Some keyboards. Some nü-emo stylings. Possibly some screams.

I feel like I repeat myself ad nauseam when describing Envy on the Coast, but I'm almost convinced they command the hype they do due to the sheer radio-friendliness of their songs. When you water down Glassjaw (and straight "borrow" Darly Palumbo's unique vocals) and cross it with Incubus-styled modern rock, you're probably going to find some success, even when your songs are often hovering around the 5-minute mark. But my personal criticisms are rather moot as they apparently draw one of the biggest crowds of up and coming Long Island acts and manage to land tours with the likes of Angels and Airwaves and Saosin. So good for them. Or their well-networked management. Whomever. At least my friend's wisecracks to me made for a pretty amusing time ("This one goes out to the delay pedal. We love you!"). For those actually interested, it probably wouldn't surprise you to know they played "Temper Temper," a new song, and "Suckerpunch" amongst others.

Musically, Saves the Day likely delivered one of the most competent performances in quite some time. I had some very slight issues with the set list, but we'll get to that later. The weirdness of Chris Conley's newest inflection seems to have settled in well, for either him, the listener, or both, and works with just about any song the band picks out of their growing catalogue. He talked a little more with the audience than usual, and looked to be having a good time on the more energetic numbers, showing it by moving around the stage more often than usual. The veteran Pete Parada was flawless with every drum fill and looked spirited when the tempos would pick up, David Soloway on right stage guitarist let his backup vocals mesh perfectly with Conley's, and, of course, Manny Carrero on bass looked like a professor with his slightly aged stature and wiry glasses, but having a pleasant time and expertly picking every note he's obviously memorized well.

As for the list, I expected to only hear maybe 1 or 2 off my 2nd favorite album of theirs, 1998's Can't Slow Down, so I was fine with hearing "Deciding" -- excited, even -- as they briefly mentioned playing it at their first Long Island show with Kid Dynamite (what a show that would have been to see). But as this is one of the first headlining tours in support of the recently released Sound the Alarm, you'd think they would depend at least somewhat heavily on it, that being something I'd have no problem with as it's a great effort. But only 4 were played, as you can see below, leaving out the splendorous staple of "The End," or other standouts like "Bones" or "Don't Know Why." It was great to hear the desperate, psychologically damned "Say You'll Never Leave" in the opening 1-2-3 punch, but it would've been nice to get some others, like the abovementioned. Interestingly enough, "At Your Funeral" was completely left out, which was okay with me -- a great song, but definitely one I've seen them play every single show attended by myself. They also introduced 2 of the In Reverie cuts claiming we'd been clamoring for them on the Internets. Sure. Other than the debut, the list was very evenly divided amongst the other four full-lengths and made for a healthily filled out 19-song set list overall.

So despite that and some moments of awfully tone deaf singing along all up in my ear, Saves the Day continue providing (most of) the hits and relatively deep cuts ("Third Engine," awesome), all on a tour in which they're playing some considerably intimate venues, which is always a treat.

Set list (in order & accurate):

Jessie and My Whetstone [electric]
Say You'll Never Leave
Holly Hox Forget Me Nots
Driving in the Dark
Nightingale
All I'm Losing Is Me
Head for the Hills
Shoulder to the Wheel
Where Are You?
Never in My Waking Life
Third Engine
Cars and Calories
Shattered
Deciding
In Reverie
Eulogy
As Your Ghost Takes Flight

Encore

Rocks Tonic Juice Magic
Firefly

Breakdown:

Can't Slow Down: 1
Through Being Cool: 4
I'm Sorry I'm Leaving: 1
Stay What You Are: 5
In Reverie: 4
Sound the Alarm: 4

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Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, October 1, 2006 at 5:28 PM (EDT)

yeah but the newer songs have so much better song structure, lyrics, vocals, talent. the first 2 records are just eh. i loved em when i was younger but when i started to play and appreciate music more i realized how much the newer song have to offer

Posted by k-dubs on 2006-09-29 02:43:02

they need to use less and less new and more and more old... say 1 from in reverie, 3 from sound the alarm, and evenly disperse the rest.

Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, September 28, 2006 at 2:35 PM (EDT)

I saw STD's acoustic set at Warped Tour and they played "This Is Not an Exit". I think one girl (or several) was screaming for it after every song they played and Chris got a little annoyed. He said something to the effect of, "What do want to hear? 'This Is Not an Exit'? How original of you to say that."

By the way, am I nuts? I don't much like "The End" and don't understand why others do or why it was a single. I would have thought "Say You'll Never Leave" or "Shattered" would have been better choices.

Posted by backupdork on 2006-09-27 15:29:03

i had a ticket to the baltimore show but couldn't make it. i saw them the next night at Indiana University of PA, and it was kind of weak. it was my 13th time seeing them, and i had a good time and all, but i was pretty let down by the setlist. they had been switching it up so much lately that i was going into it expecting some surprises but definitely didn't get any. i'm gonna blame that on the fact that it was a college show, though.

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 at 2:25 AM (EDT)

saw this show in baltimore - best time i've ever seen saves the day by far, and that's even though the set list sucked. a lot.

the small venue made it seem lke the scene was a live again.

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 at 1:29 AM (EDT)

indeed i have seen "this is not an exit" live. it was actually really good ...this was during the vagrant across america tour in 2000 or so...even before "at your funeral" was released as a single...although i think they suck now, that sure was a good show.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, September 26, 2006 at 4:46 PM (EDT)

Does Saves the Day ever play "This is Not an Exit" live? I really like that song.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, September 26, 2006 at 3:26 PM (EDT)

this set sounds sweet i enjoy their later work much better. dont get me wrong the first release was ok but it just seemed kinda generic. through being cool was just nonstop fun and then the rest of thier cd just got better and better. the music itself was more thought out and extreamly talented, the lyrics were better and it didnt sound like the same song over and over again

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, September 26, 2006 at 1:00 PM (EDT)

that's not a very good setlist.

Posted by threechordsandthetruth on 2006-09-26 11:01:41

They really need to come over to the UK, I wish I could see them.

Also, to the guy below, there's a live full-band version of Jessie on their Ups and Downs rarities CD.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, September 26, 2006 at 9:39 AM (EDT)

Pretty much sums it up how Saves the Day has become. i could never go and see them again. If they stuck with their first 3 albums I would be all over this. But that setlist is awful so top heavy on the last three albums and this even sounds like a treat to fans who have shown up recently. Im not saying the last 3 had moments, but I wouldnt go out of my way to see this. That is poor!!!

Posted by givemeamuseumandillfillit on 2006-09-26 08:30:51

When i heard the local radio rock channel dj say he were going to play envy on the coast i decided to actually care and listen because of the heavy glassjaw comparasions they've been getting on here, especially from brian.

There weren't even a single bit of glassjaw in there. I don't know if this song (temper temper) differs from their usual sound, but that song were nothing like your description. Just bland pop/rock with a younger version of that maroon 5 guy.

Posted by randomhero323 on 2006-09-26 08:11:51

it was an overall good show, i didnt want to hear anything off of in reverie but i was glad i heard some through being cool and atleast 1 off cant slow down.

Posted by maverick on 2006-09-26 01:40:33

Wow, that's kinda funny -- every time I've seen STD this year, their set has been incredibly Sound The Alarm-heavy, from their headlining tour in April to their Bamboozle set (which was virtually all from STA) to their Warped set. Guess they were just in a different mood when you saw them.

PS - Pistolita and Envy On The Coast are both really good, I think. Pistolita's record kind of falters, but their live show's great -- they blew me away when I saw them open for Say Anything and the Bled. And there's no way Envy On The Coast won't be the next big "scene" thing, either.

-Scott

Posted by dougkatz on 2006-09-26 00:56:04

chris acknowledged someone requesting art of misplacing firearms and his quote about it was (and it ruled) "uhh i wouldnt even know where to start"

Posted by greyicewater on 2006-09-26 00:14:19

was Jessie and My Whetstone played solo electric or was it full band?
if it was full band that would be interesting.

i haven't seen this band in probably 5 years or more. so i'm always wondering how their live show is now.i keep missing them everytime they come back through atlanta.