| A Rocket to the Moon lands at the Roxy Theatre |
| Written by Paul Lyons |
| Thursday, 07 April 2011 00:08 |
 Yes, they are young, and have adoring teenage fans who scream at the sight of them. Yes, the lead singer is a clean cut, baby-faced 22-year old...the kind of boy you could bring home to mom. Yes, their songs are innocent, and deal with the various shades of love. Yet don’t be fooled...this is no ordinary boy band. In fact I’m not sure if they’re a boy band at all. What I do know is... A Rocket to the Moon soared high into the stratosphere Tuesday night with an exciting 16-song, 75 minute set at The Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood. Formed only a few years ago in Braintree, Massachusetts, singer/guitarist Nick Santino put together a strong set of musicians that eventually included the fantastic Justin Richards on lead guitar, the forceful Eric Halvorsen on bass, and the thunderous Andrew Cook on drums. They soon put out a few MP3 songs, and released 5-song EP in 2008 called GREETINGS FROM...The following year, A Rocket to the Moon released their first full-length album, ON YOUR SIDE, which featured 12 tracks that mixed pop, rock, and a little twang of country music thrown in. Since 2009, the band has been on tour...fearlessly promoting ON YOUR SIDE to prove to the world that A Rocket to the Moon is a force to be reckoned with... Over two hours before hitting the stage, Nick Santino was standing on Sunset Boulevard...right in front of the Roxy theater. Despite the fact that his band was headlining a SOLD OUT concert inside the venue, he had no problem being out there in the open...just hanging out with friends. Fresh from a day off from the tour, Nick Santino told me that A Rocket to the Moon has never played the Roxy before, and felt great that his band had sold out the 450 capacity venue. When asked about the unusually late start-time (10:45pm) for the band’s set, Santino expressed some concern, and hoped that people would still “stick around” for his show. After all, it was a Tuesday night, and most of A Rocket to the Moon’s audience had school the next day...  After a bizarre, off-color introduction on stage by an unidentified tall man with huge hair, A Rocket to the Moon burst into a lively version of “On Your Side”, the title track off of their debut album. I almost did not recognize the song at first, as the version played on stage was much livelier, and heavier than its original studio recording. In fact, most of the songs played at the Roxy Tuesday night sounded a hundred times better than their studio counterparts. The predominantly young, female audience shrieked, held out their hands, and happily sang along to each and every song the band played in succession. After the opening number, A Rocket to the Moon continued their run of ON OUR YOUR SIDE songs with ”She’s Killing Me,” the bonus track “No One Will Ever Get Hurt’, and the great shout out...“Give a Damn.” From there, the band reached back to play the first cut off of their 2008 GREETINGS FROM...EP, “If Only They Knew”, then brought out another ON YOUR SIDE cut...”On A Lonely Night.” Afterward, they switched back to the EP for a strong, moving version of “Fear of Flying.” As well as the concert was going by this point, A Rocket to the Moon really hit its groove on the next three songs. Featuring Nick Santino on acoustic guitar, Justin Richards on pitch-perfect backing vocals, plus the solid foundation of Eric Halvorsen and Andrew Cook on bass and drums ...the band played a beautiful version of the Ryan Adams song “Two.” Keeping with the tone of the Adams tune, the gentle love ballad “Baby Blue Eyes” was played next, with everyone singing along. Though it was the third song played in this trilogy that really stole the show for the night... Nick Santino spoke of a time, way back in 2007, where he was just an employee at an American Apparel store in Massachusetts. Aside from stealing clothes from the store (which he apologized for), Santino felt inspired to write a song on his iPhone. When he got home, he recorded the song on his computer, reading off of the iPhone. It’s a song that the band had rarely played in the past, as it’s not featured on either the GREETINGS FROM...EP, nor the ON YOUR SIDE album. Released as a stand-alone MP3 single in 2009, “Not A Second To Waste” is a grand and majestic acoustic hymn...a melodic epic filled with love, passion, and heartbreak. This is the band’s secret weapon...a hidden gem that could take on the world. For my money, it’s clearly A Rocket To The Moon’s best song, and the full band version played at the Roxy was simply breathtaking.  Changing things up, the band next turned to a high-energy early song from the EP: ”Just Another One”, followed by the upbeat rocker “Life of the Party.” The crowd went wild for the two ON YOUR SIDE songs that closed the set: ”Dakota” and “Like We Used To,” and the band left the stage U2-style, with each member leaving the stage one at a time, while the others keep on playing, until only the drummer is left to pound one last beat. The girls screamed as A Rocket To The Moon returned to the stage for an encore that featured the first two tracks from ON YOUR SIDE: “Annabelle” and the very catchy pop single “Mr. Right.” At the stroke of midnight, the show was over, yet the Roxy crowd was not so quick to leave. Perhaps they felt as energized by the show as I was. It doesn’t always happen, yet there are times when a band truly rises to the occasion, and delivers a performance that goes way beyond what had been previously offered on albums, EPs, or singles. This is exactly what happened at the Roxy on Tuesday night. A Rocket To The Moon lifted themselves up, and was kind enough to bring the audience along with them... |
No comments:
Post a Comment