The Heart Attack Tour
Trees // Dallas, TX // June 11, 2014
Review by Alyssa Schmidt
Dallas isn’t a stranger to pop punk shows. Anytime Man Overboard plays, the snapbacks from every corner of the Dallas-Fort Worth area come out. Doors opened at 7 and the show almost immediately kicked off with local band The Happy Alright. While the crowd was small and mostly still, since they frequent the Dallas pop punk scene, there was still a couple fans vibing along with them.
Next up was Houston’s Dear You. They hopped on the tour in Austin and played their last show with the rest of the bands in Dallas. The band had a very clear The Wonder Years influence which had many people bobbing their heads. However, they were almost entirely unknown to the crowd.
The crowd didn’t really start to move until Knuckle Puck took the stage. The Chicago newcomers hosted the rowdiest bunch of the night. The “pop-punk bros” clashed with the inexperienced “pop-punk virgins” as the moshing became slightly out of hand. The ones who were brave enough to stage dive, were usually dropped. This resulted in at least one bloody nose. A majority of the set came from their new EP The Weight That You Buried You, including the opening track “Everything Must Go”. The biggest hit of the set was when the band played the first song they ever wrote, “Stuck”. A large circle pit and lots of stage diving commenced. The frontman urged the fans to sing so loud that he wouldn’t have to use microphone during the closing song, “No Good”. The crowd happily consented, drowning him out for most of the song.
Forever Came Calling was up next. Almost completely unknown a couple of years ago, the Californians have made major strides in building a national fanbase. The moshing died down considerably, however most of the crowd still seemed to know the songs. The band opened their set with “Ides”, off of their debut album Contender. Most of the tracks came off the album, except for when they played the lead single off of their upcoming LP, What Matters Most… Although most people did not know “Indebted”, there was a few singing the words. The closing track of the set, “Front Porch Sunrise”, brought the biggest reaction and even had a fan come up on stage and sang the final verse with frontman Joe Candelaria.
The fourth act of the night were Boston’s Transit. Although they were the least pop-punk act, there were still some attempts at moshing. However, Transit’s live flair doesn’t need to rely on a rowdy crowd. Frontman Joe Boynton’s animated stage presence is enough to hype up the crowd. They played tracks off the fan favorite album, Listen and Forgive, including the single Long Lost Friends. However, the most reaction came when they played a song off their split with Man Overboard, “Please Head North”. It was the only song in which a circle pit was started and even featured Zac Einstein on guest vocals. Only a few songs were played off of the latest album Young New England but the crowd seemed to appreciate the older tunes more. Throughout the set, they were joined by the frontman from Knuckle Puck and Wayne Wildrick from Man Overboard, both on guitar.
And then the pop punk veterans, Man Overboard, took their place as the headliner. They played Heart Attack almost in full, including a few old fan favorites into the mix. Although not the rowdiest crowd of the night, the fans definitely had their fair share of fun. Once again, the crowd didn’t really know how to react to crowd surfers and stage divers so the few people who were brave enough, usually fell right to the floor. The biggest reactions definitely came from the old favorites like “World Favorite Girl”, “Montrose” and “Dead End Dreams”. Nothing was crazier than when they played “Love Your Friends, Die Laughing”, perhaps the most beloved Man Overboard song. They closed the set with the lead single off of Heart Attack, “Where I Left You”.
