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Concert in your area for Rock, Pop, and Indie & Alt.
When The Fray first burst onto the scene in the early aughts, the Colorado-bred band introduced the world to a profoundly life-affirming form of alt-rock: timeless but inventive, arena-sized in scope but firmly rooted in raw emotion. Over the coming years, their soul-searching songwriting and high-powered sound led to earning four Grammy Award nominations, scoring a multitude of Billboard top 10 hits, and amassing a passionately devoted worldwide fanbase. Their single “How To Save A Life” spent a staggering 58 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and became the “unofficial theme song” for Grey’s Anatomy. Rolling Stone praised their "stick-in-your-head hooks and eloquent narratives," while the LA Times called their music “melodically rich.” The Fray’s debut album How To Save A Life (2005) is certified 4x platinum in the US and has been declared one of the best-selling digital debuts of all time.
Dashboard Confessional was originally conceived as a solo side project of musician Chris Carrabba. The singer’s debut output, 2000’s “The Swiss Army Romance” was released whilst Carrabba was still a member of Further Seems Forever, however after their debut “The Moon Is Down”, the singer left the group to focus on Dashboard Confessional. In 2001 the sophomore album “The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most” was issued by Vagrant Records, and marked the arrival of a band in support of Carrabba. Now a group, with Chris Carrabba at its introspective core, Dashboard Confessional gripped the emo genre by the scruff of its neck and shook it back to life.
After a several month tour in support of the album, Carrabba et al. began collaborating with Dan Hoerner, which resulted in the EPs “So Impossible” in 2001 and “Summers Kiss” in 2002. Also in 2002 the band recorded and released an instalment for the MTV Unplugged series, which represented the band’s biggest breakthrough, with the album “MTV Unplugged 2.0” going platinum. With a line-up now consisting of Carrabba, bassist Scott Schoenbeck, guitarist Johnny Lefler, and drummer Mike Marsh, the band released the full-length “A Mark, a Mission, a Brand, a Scar” in 2003. Charting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, the album earned strong reviews from critics, and spawned the singles “Hands Down” and “Rapid Hope Loss”. The band’s song “Vindicated” was later used on the “Spider-Man 2” soundtrack and subsequently at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The full-length “Dusk and Summer” followed in 2006 featuring production from Daniel Lanois and Don Gilmore. Once again the album peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, and was supported by a North American tour alongside Say Anything and Ben Lee. The band’s fifth full-length “The Shade of Poison Trees” arrived in October 2007, followed by “Alter the Ending” in November 2009.
I saw The Fray live at the BottleRock music festival in Napa Valley earlier this year, and they were the best act the whole weekend.
With their new album Helios having been released this year, this is the perfect time to go see The Fray in person and see what all the fuss is about for yourself.
It was a hot, sunny, sweaty day, but, reinvigorated upon hearing The Fray, everybody still got into it and moved with the music. The crowd basically lost their collective minds the instant the opening notes to How to Save a Life were played, and the enthusiasm and energy carried over throughout the whole set.
The music was great, with all of the radio classics that everybody sang along with (How to Save a Life, Never Say Never, Over My Head) and their lesser-known songs all being played perfectly and with tons of passion. It was a nice change of pace from the rest of the music at the festival, since the piano helps give it all a really chill vibe even though everybody’s going crazy enjoying the show.
The lyrics to all of their songs have some real meaning too and keep you thinking long after the adrenaline from the show has come and gone.
Dashboard Confessional has been making all my dreams come true since the year I begged my older sister to let me listen to “The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most” on her portable CD player, and they haven’t let me down since. Not only is Chris Carrabba gorgeous AND talented, but the band has a song for just about every relationship scenario imaginable, and they accompanied me through many a high-school breakup. Needless to say, I’m a very loyal fan.
Probably one of the best moments in music history was May of 2013 when Dashboard got the chance to play New York’s historic Madison Square Garden, an arena with a capacity of 20,000 people. The crowd was obviously beside themselves with excitement at seeing such a classic band from teenage-hood perform live, but the big moment of the night came when DC came back out for their encore to perform what is probably their most popular song, “Hands Down.” Chris barely had to sing, because all 20,000 people were singing the song for him. Everyone in the arena knew every word and every nuance of the song, and it was an absolutely INCREDIBLE, indescribable moment.
Chris is now the front man of a new band called Twin Forks, but every time he gets back on stage with Dashboard Confessional, it’s like they never left.
jillian-paige
This was a very small scale concert which is apt for the level of recognition the band has so far; however, I still thoroughly enjoyed the music while Colony House was actually playing. A large portion of the concert was taken over by other artists - especially the opener, Cheerleader. This was definitely a let down since I wasn't really at the venue to hear them. It seemed like all three artists had an equal number of songs, which shouldn't be the case.
Colony House itself was great! Their music made the small crowd sing and dance along with great vibes. The musicians were great and had a good attitude. I just wish they played for longer.
manali-banerjee
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