Who: Philip Phillips, Megan & Liz, Owl City, Austin Mahone, Ed Sheeran, Boys Like Girls
When: December 10, 2012
Where: First Niagara Center/ Buffalo, NY
With: Christine
Of Note: Super cheap, very nice StubHub seats; so very many screaming teenagers.
So, we all know that I have feelings about Kiss 98.5, Buffalo's premiere pop radio station. So, it's maybe fitting that my last concert in Buffalo was their holiday blow-out, Kissmas Bash. Much like Kiss the Summer Hello, Kissmas Bash brought together a bunch of acts - though these ones seemed much more "up and coming" than "on the way out". Despite the fact that we were definitely the wrong demographic - neither teenage girls, nor their mothers - the lovely Christine agreed to accompany me.
Let's get into it!
Phillip Phillips
Oh my last American Idol boyfriend, who I hope goes on to do incredible things (How good is his debut album? So! Very! Good!), how jipped were you in the kick off spot? In any event, he charmingly played a stripped down set - just him, another guitar, a cello, and a guy sitting on a drum box that included a pretty boss cover of Eminem's 'Lose Yourself'. Predictably, he closed with 'Home' and it was lovely.
Megan & Liz
What exactly is a "Megan & Liz"? I'll tell you what it is - it's a truly terrible singing duo, albeit one that was wearing some adorable skirts. Months later, I heard a song in a store (? on the radio?) and I thought, "Why on earth does this sound so familiar?" One Shazaam later and I found out, "Oh, huh. It's Megan & Liz." I promptly messaged Christine to say, "Oh! I guess this is a real thing?"
Owl City
I, actually, really like Owl City; I thought 'Ocean Eyes' was a great album. Plus, anything that spawns as many awesome a capella covers as 'Fireflies' did has to be good. I totally didn't realize Owl City was one of those "the band is actually one dude" bands, but, in person Adam Young was adorable, well-dressed (well hello delightful sweater vest!), and with great stage presence. Additionally, some quick during show Wikipedia-ing confirmed that he was old enough to objectify. 'Fireflies' was great. Sadly, Carly Rae didn't make an appearance; 'Good Time' duet duties were fulfilled by half of Megan & Liz. I also really liked the 'Shooting Star' song. It's perhaps also worth noting that Janet Snyder was desperately trying to incite a "Doo doo doo do doo do do/ Nothing but a good time" crowd sing along during the set breaks, to middling success.
Austin Mahone
What is an Austin Mahone? An Austin Mahone is a good excuse to go use the restroom and grab a beer & some burgers in an effort to get away from the shrieking. Oh so very much shrieking. Ear splitting, spine tingling, manifestation of freaking the eff out shrieking. On one hand, my poor eardrums. On the other hand, I totally dig people fired up about things. I guess we can call it a wash. In any event, I suppose I should mention that we had awesome seats - 200 level club seats, that I found on StubHub for $20 because I waited too long to buy the cheap-o nosebleeds. I'm not sure why they were so undervalued, but it worked out for us...because we got non-crowded concessions & restrooms! Yay!
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran is a big deal; I believe they said he was in Buffalo for a grand total of six hours or something ridiculous because he had exactly that amount of time away from his gig opening for Taylor Swift. I heard a cool story about how he got to perform at the Grammy's - essentially, Elton John told the Grammy committee that they should have Ed Sheeran perform. The Grammy people indicated that he wasn't big enough yet but that they'd be delighted to have Ed perform if Elton joined him. Thus, the Elton & Ed duet at the Grammys. Anyway, he was different than I expected - a little less emotional guitar strumming, and a lot more, "Holy crap, look what he just did with all those pedals and all that looping! It sounds like there's 40 people up there playing! That is insane!" Seriously, homeboy worked some pedals. The ubiquitous 'A Team' was as delightfully haunting as you would expect.
Boys Like Girls
I spent less than three minutes looking up Boys Like Girls on the internet before the show. Then I proceeded to sing all of their songs. Apparently, they have had some serious radio play in the last bunch of years, because I knew pretty much their entire catalog. Who knew? Anyway, they were great - very high energy. The lead singer was a cutie in his leather jacket and some mid-set googling indicated he was also old enough to ogle, so - bonus! (Though, when he took off the leather jacket, he had on weird little glove things which...no?) Anyway, he did the "stop mid song and tell people not to watch through their phones" thing, which worked in this instance because he hilariously pointed out, "We play this song the same every time. You can YouTube, literally, thousands of shaky videos like the one you'll get. Just be in the moment?" Stand out tracks were definitely 'The Great Escape' and 'Love Drunk'. Who knew I retained the ability to enjoy pop-punk past the age of 15? Not me, but they were delightful!
I think there was someone else on after Boys Like Girls, but we were done. To make sure our souls were purified from all the tweeny-boppers, Christine and I headed out for some grown-up cocktails. All in all, it was a super fun night.
When: December 10, 2012
Where: First Niagara Center/ Buffalo, NY
With: Christine
Of Note: Super cheap, very nice StubHub seats; so very many screaming teenagers.
So, we all know that I have feelings about Kiss 98.5, Buffalo's premiere pop radio station. So, it's maybe fitting that my last concert in Buffalo was their holiday blow-out, Kissmas Bash. Much like Kiss the Summer Hello, Kissmas Bash brought together a bunch of acts - though these ones seemed much more "up and coming" than "on the way out". Despite the fact that we were definitely the wrong demographic - neither teenage girls, nor their mothers - the lovely Christine agreed to accompany me.
Let's get into it!
Phillip Phillips
Oh my last American Idol boyfriend, who I hope goes on to do incredible things (How good is his debut album? So! Very! Good!), how jipped were you in the kick off spot? In any event, he charmingly played a stripped down set - just him, another guitar, a cello, and a guy sitting on a drum box that included a pretty boss cover of Eminem's 'Lose Yourself'. Predictably, he closed with 'Home' and it was lovely.
Megan & Liz
What exactly is a "Megan & Liz"? I'll tell you what it is - it's a truly terrible singing duo, albeit one that was wearing some adorable skirts. Months later, I heard a song in a store (? on the radio?) and I thought, "Why on earth does this sound so familiar?" One Shazaam later and I found out, "Oh, huh. It's Megan & Liz." I promptly messaged Christine to say, "Oh! I guess this is a real thing?"
Owl City
I, actually, really like Owl City; I thought 'Ocean Eyes' was a great album. Plus, anything that spawns as many awesome a capella covers as 'Fireflies' did has to be good. I totally didn't realize Owl City was one of those "the band is actually one dude" bands, but, in person Adam Young was adorable, well-dressed (well hello delightful sweater vest!), and with great stage presence. Additionally, some quick during show Wikipedia-ing confirmed that he was old enough to objectify. 'Fireflies' was great. Sadly, Carly Rae didn't make an appearance; 'Good Time' duet duties were fulfilled by half of Megan & Liz. I also really liked the 'Shooting Star' song. It's perhaps also worth noting that Janet Snyder was desperately trying to incite a "Doo doo doo do doo do do/ Nothing but a good time" crowd sing along during the set breaks, to middling success.
Austin Mahone
What is an Austin Mahone? An Austin Mahone is a good excuse to go use the restroom and grab a beer & some burgers in an effort to get away from the shrieking. Oh so very much shrieking. Ear splitting, spine tingling, manifestation of freaking the eff out shrieking. On one hand, my poor eardrums. On the other hand, I totally dig people fired up about things. I guess we can call it a wash. In any event, I suppose I should mention that we had awesome seats - 200 level club seats, that I found on StubHub for $20 because I waited too long to buy the cheap-o nosebleeds. I'm not sure why they were so undervalued, but it worked out for us...because we got non-crowded concessions & restrooms! Yay!
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran is a big deal; I believe they said he was in Buffalo for a grand total of six hours or something ridiculous because he had exactly that amount of time away from his gig opening for Taylor Swift. I heard a cool story about how he got to perform at the Grammy's - essentially, Elton John told the Grammy committee that they should have Ed Sheeran perform. The Grammy people indicated that he wasn't big enough yet but that they'd be delighted to have Ed perform if Elton joined him. Thus, the Elton & Ed duet at the Grammys. Anyway, he was different than I expected - a little less emotional guitar strumming, and a lot more, "Holy crap, look what he just did with all those pedals and all that looping! It sounds like there's 40 people up there playing! That is insane!" Seriously, homeboy worked some pedals. The ubiquitous 'A Team' was as delightfully haunting as you would expect.
Boys Like Girls
I spent less than three minutes looking up Boys Like Girls on the internet before the show. Then I proceeded to sing all of their songs. Apparently, they have had some serious radio play in the last bunch of years, because I knew pretty much their entire catalog. Who knew? Anyway, they were great - very high energy. The lead singer was a cutie in his leather jacket and some mid-set googling indicated he was also old enough to ogle, so - bonus! (Though, when he took off the leather jacket, he had on weird little glove things which...no?) Anyway, he did the "stop mid song and tell people not to watch through their phones" thing, which worked in this instance because he hilariously pointed out, "We play this song the same every time. You can YouTube, literally, thousands of shaky videos like the one you'll get. Just be in the moment?" Stand out tracks were definitely 'The Great Escape' and 'Love Drunk'. Who knew I retained the ability to enjoy pop-punk past the age of 15? Not me, but they were delightful!
I think there was someone else on after Boys Like Girls, but we were done. To make sure our souls were purified from all the tweeny-boppers, Christine and I headed out for some grown-up cocktails. All in all, it was a super fun night.
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