The AP Tour 2009 (Concert Review)

For years, people have been raving about Family Force 5's live show. Jesus Freak Hideout and CCM have both at least once voted Family Force 5 as having the best live show out there. And, finally, Family Force 5 decided to show their faces in Connecticut this year on the AP Tour, featuring A Rocket To The Moon, Hit The Lights, 3OH!3, and The Maine.

After finally finding somewhere to park for $20, I reached the venue at 4:30. There was already a line wrapped around the building, but not too bad. The show was sold out, so the line grew quickly, until I could not see the end. But before the doors opened at six, I spotted Xanadu walking past me. I yelled, "Hey Xanadu!" He spun around like he was making sure I wasn't talking to somebody else and said, "Me?" I laughed and we got into a conversation about the band, when they were going on, Chapstique's broken knee, how Xanadu likes not being in the band because he can sleep. He's a pretty funny guy.

After he left, my friend called and informed me that Chapstique would have the VIP passes tonight (In case you didn't know, for this tour, Family Force 5 has been posting clues on their Twitter about where they keep the passes each night, and if you get them you can stand along the side of the stage and after hang with them in their bus--pretty sick). I don't have internet on my phone, so he was a big help. After that, the line started moving and I got a nice picture of a bus with the AP Tour banner on the side (which I will post later with the rest of my pics). When I got in, my friend called and told me that in order to get the passes I would need to do ten pushups, ten lunges, and draw a picture of a draygon. I immediately saw ChapStique and ran over to him, only to find that a girl was finishing up the last of her ten pushups. So after realizing I wasn't going to get the passes, I got back to my spot in the crowd.

The club filled up quickly, and not long after A Rocket To The Moon opened up with the song "Dakota" from their Greetings From... EP. They were pretty good, and they got the crowd hyped up quickly.

The crowd was unbelievable. Almost everyone was moshing, and people were body slamming and pushing right in the center where I was, so I slowly kind of drifted to the right of the stage so I didn't get killed.

After A Rocket To The Moon, Hit The Lights took the stage. I wasn't too impressed with them, especially not after all those "f*** yeah"s the lead singer dished out. I was beginning to wonder if this was all worth it, being pushed around and hearing all this crap.

But after Hit The Lights moved off the stage and Family Force 5 came out, I realized I would not miss this show for the world. They opened with the song "Kountry Gentleman" and I soon understood why Family Force 5's live show is so hyped up. It's because the entire show is an adrenaline rush. Family Force 5 brings twice the energy felt through their music, and it is unbelievable. After that, they went straight into "Fever", which was followed by "Drama Queen," which had a very different opening that was very fun. For this song, Nadaddy got to bang on the Family Force 5000 a bit, which is the band's gigantic drum machine with a bunch of cool buttons that light up when hit. "Get Your Back Off The Wall" was the next song, and then came "Radiator." For "Radiator" green lasers shot across the ceiling of the club, and the whole thing kind of reminded me of their music video, which is pretty sick. Halfway through the song, Soul Glow randomly began to sing a line from "I Kissed A Girl" by Katy Perry. It was kind of funny, and I didn't catch it at first, so while I was watching it on my camera I was kind of surprised. After they sang "Party Foul" and then "Numb", in which they encouraged people to make a circle and breakdance if you could. If you couldn't Soul Glow warned you should "run away like you got the swine flu." For this song they all danced like wild with the help of Xanadu. After this song Soul Glow introduced everyone in the band and talked about the remix album coming out soon. They didn't slow down for long though, because shortly after was "Supersonic." Crouton got off of the drums and helped with lead vocals, which was pretty amazing. After, Soul Glow put on his hulk gloves and ended with "Love Addict" and "Earthquake", both of which were epic. For Earthquake Soul Glow made a rap about New Haven and The AP Tour, all which was a little hard to make out what he was saying, but I got the idea.

I left after Family Force 5 was done, since I was packed with energy and wasn't ready for 3OH!3 to kill it with their vulgar lyrics. I got myself a pretty sick shirt featuring Soul Glow's hulk glove. And when I stepped out of the venue, the only thing going through my head was "WOW!" Family Force 5 put on the most energetic and fun live show I have ever attended. The next chance I get to see them (which might be in November) there is no possible way I am missing out.