KJEE’s Summer RoundUp, featuring Hard-Fi, She Wants Revenge,
Panic! At the Disco, Franz Ferdinand, Yellowcard, and the
Strokes

At the Santa Barbara Bowl, Sunday, June 11.

Reviewed by Levi Michaels

The cowboys and cowgirls over at KJEE have done it again,
burning the midnight oil to orchestrate episode two of the Summer
RoundUp. Promoters have been working interminably for nearly two
months, with commercials and advertisements around every corner of
Santa Barbara, and, fortunately, their work paid off last Sunday at
the Bowl.

The day began with a hasty but kinetic performance by rising
Brit-rockers Hard-Fi. With only one album to their name, the band’s
stay of about 20 minutes seemed to be rather short-lived, almost as
if they were buying time for the next act.

The time was at least well spent, as She Wants Revenge followed
with a terrific set. The gothically garnished quintet offered a
clean set list that borrowed astutely from their eponymous album.
Though the group is relatively new to the scene, they seemed to
play off each other with the grace of veterans.

Perhaps the crowd was waiting for Panic! At the Disco, who
skillfully held the audience’s attention: The band wore ornate
harlequin costumes while half-naked servants brought them tea. A
well-placed cover of “Tonight Tonight” by Smashing Pumpkins did
well to complement the selections from their album A Fever You
Can’t Sweat Out. The boys certainly put on a good show, though it
came dangerously close to the point of distraction from the
sound.

But where the boys in Panic! succeeded in entertaining, the
following act failed. Yellowcard made smart selections from their
new album Lights and Sounds, as well as the older Ocean Avenue, but
the crowd responded with wan interest at best. The group was so
excited to be there they were literally doing back-flips, as
violinist Sean Mackin displayed, but the energy was far from
reciprocated. Formed in 1997, Yellowcard was the most seasoned band
there, but a heavy presence of bored Franz Ferdinand fans seemed to
make up most of the crowd.

And the Scots did not disappoint. The momentum really picked up
when Franz Ferdinand sounded off with well-translated singles like
“Do You Want To” and “Take Me Out,” before leaving with an
explosive performance of “This Fire.” The stage was set for the
Strokes.

With only a handful of U.S. performances on their itinerary, the
crowd seemed to welcome the Strokes with open arms. The alt-rockers
greeted their sold-out crowd with “You Only Live Once,” a single
from their newest album, First Impressions of Earth. The Strokes
followed through with a well-crafted set list that sent the entire
crowd home grinning after the band trashed the stage in true rock
’n’ roll spirit.

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