Spotify knows me too damn well. It intentionally hit a soft spot when it notified me that The Frights were playing an upcoming show near me. I impulsively bought two tickets and found myself diving back into all of their earliest releases I used to play on repeat. I was a bit disappointed to find that they were only one of three openers for The Story So Far, who I was totally unfamiliar with, but I was more than willing to discover a few new artists.
I’m a bit ashamed to admit that my friends and I were nowhere near ready for the scene we so naïvely walked into. I felt as if I had just wandered into a Hot Topic to find a bunch of angry teens with pent up emotions from the early 2000s. Apparently Green Day and Fall Out Boy hadn’t been enough of an outlet for their anger, so they instead all gathered in Oakland to beat the crap out of each other in a mosh pit. I must have missed the memo to wear a helmet or stay the hell out of the pit ‘cause I have never been punched in the head so many times in my life. I’m still not sure what kind of moshing this was, but I know damn well I’ll never partake in it again. When my friend looked at me with a black eye, we finally made the call to retreat back a bit. At this point, The Story So Far hadn’t even taken the stage yet.
When The Story So Far finally did come on, the audience’s energy and angst increased tenfold. Within all the mayhem, lead singer Parker Cannon came on with the utmost poise, wearing a long black bomber jacket as sleek as his composure. Behind him, the rest of the band matched the energy of the audience, rough and thrashing around. If you’re unfamiliar with the band, they’re a pop-punk group from our very own East Bay Area, just up the road in Walnut Creek.
Considering I was lured into this show by The Frights, I have to say I was fairly down. In retrospect, it was foolish of me to have expected anything different than what I received. The Frights have changed so much over the years since their debut album back in 2013, which was purely raw and punk. As of late, they’ve been releasing drastically more pop-punk albums, such as “Hypochondriac” (2018). This new sound fit perfectly within the lineup for the night, among Just Friends, Hunny, and, of course, The Story So Far. I had shown up anticipating the older style of The Frights, but was instead met with an unabashedly angry pop-punk scene.
Even through all of the ringing in my head from possible brain trauma, it was impossible to ignore the musical talent of the headliner. Their guitarists went harder than I had expected, while still balancing with the clear cut vocals of Cannon. They performed quite a lengthy set, keeping everyone happy with several of their most popular tracks such as “Take Me as You Please,” “Placeholder,” and “Proper Dose.”
We had moved back a significant ways to what we thought was safe, only to find ourselves still in the midst of flying fists and multiple fights. I lost count of how many fights we saw within just the last hour of the show alone, but that may very well speak for the passion in their fans. It’s as if all of their excitement was too big for the space and just violently clashed. I respect their passion, but I don’t plan on ever coming near it again.
Article and photos by Natalie Gott