RIOT! IN THE BOULEVARD – LIVE PERFORMANCE
FOR MTV UNLEASHED
Wednesday, 17 October 2012



Today’s audience are a selection of fans that queued up outside of the New York building, over 400 people were hoping to get into the audience but the MTV studio was only able to allow its 250 capacity, the chosen few however are clearly I great spirits at getting into the studio for this unexpected performance from the teenage heroes, ‘Riot! In The Boulevard’.
Their appearance tonight was kept quiet up until two hours before the recording of the 20 minute MTV special. It was announced on the MTV twitter feed that it would be a free-for-all, a first come first serve type of deal and within ten minutes of the tweet it had been re-tweeted countless of times and crowds quickly began forming outside of the TV studio located in Manhattan, New York.

As the crowds were ushered into the venue, a lot of people outside were left disappointed at the prospect of missing out on hearing their favourite band, but as they had been in rehearsals in the build-up to the performance they decided to reward their fans for their efforts in showing up, the whole band headed outside and made their way up and down the queue, signing autographs and chatting briefly to those who sadly missed out on this unexpected opportunity, their efforts were duly rewarded judging from the screams that could be heard at the appearance of Amy, Adam, Justin, Jason and Nathan. They spent their twenty minutes outside with their fans before being indicated that it was time for them to make their way inside for their performance.

Inside the venue an image of Riot! In The Boulevard is projected onto the screen with the words, ‘Riot! In The Boulevard – Live in …’ and below the image and title is a countdown from 60 seconds, the band have now made their way backstage and are awaiting the countdown to reach it’s ending. As the number’s quickly start to decrease from 10, 9, 8, 7 and 6, the audience are becoming more and more energetic and the screaming from the audience increases as the countdown continues to move towards it’s hallowed halt.
5 … *screams* … 4 … *screams* … 3 … *screams* … 2 … *screams* … 1 … and eruption as each member of the band come rushing out onto the center stage.



The stage has turned to a dark red colour and the audience’s screams continue to bellow out as lead guitarist ‘Justin Mullen’ provides a powerful and aggressive opening guitar riff for the introduction to the band’s latest single, the guitarist wearing a basic shirt with black tie and black trousers while the frontwoman ‘Amy Meyer’ does what she does best as she thunders her way to the very front of the stage, the small figure jumping up and down while swinging her arms around, she’s wearing a more casual black and white striped vest top and black trousers, her hair is messy and is almost draped over her eyes, she steps back and jumps around while Nathan plays the powerful drum beat and the rhythm and bass players are spread out to the right and left of the stage respectively, Amy steps forward once again and grasps the microphone, pulling it out from the stand, she tilts her head back and screams at the top of her voice, “NEW YORK CITY!!!” she looks out to the audience and smiles before continuing, “I WANNA HEAR YOU SCREAM!” and with that command the audience do so with incredible force and energy as Amy begins to sing the opening couple of verses;

“We live such different lives
It’s like everything keeps changing
We used to talk all night
Now it seems like we’re just fading
We’re going through the motions
Fighting just to see who’ll be the first to blink
We can both see the truth in front of us
Our ship is gonna sink

Kiss a rose and throw it in the sea
Just pray that the rose will find its way to me
We’re both young with a lot to learn
A heart beats heavier when it’s forced to yearn
Maybe we were stupid for getting into this
I sometimes wish I never met you
But it’s only you that I can miss”

A blistering guitar interlude mid-way through the song by Justin, Adam and Jason with all three providing an exhibition of their instrumental abilities, taking some of the attention away from the red-haired lead singer for a rare few moments, Justin in particular shows his ability as an accomplished guitar player, he’s often overlooked as a lead guitarist but what he provides to the band is a lot of the energy and power which he showcases in this thirty second instrumental, Justin and Adam both showcase their own ability’s and show that it’s not all just about the popular singer, but the attention shifts focus once more as Amy rushes towards the center of the stage once again, she continues to jump up and down and screams, “I WANT YOU GUYS TO SING ALONG WITH ME!”, she pauses briefly before continuing, “HERE WE GO!”;

“It’s hard to see the light
Right now it’s just way too dark
It’s hard to know that things will be alright
There’s still a flickering in my heart
Just believe in the words that I say to be true
New York City!!
I still hold a candle to you

We’re always going through the motions
Fighting just to see who’ll be the first to blink
We can both see the truth
Our ship is gonna sink
Maybe not right now
Maybe not today
Maybe when we least expect it
Our love will die away
Maybe not here
But no matter how we try”

And for the final couple of words of the song, Amy directs the small black microphone in the direction of the audience for them to bellow out the final words, “SOMEWHERE ON THE HORIZON/WE WILL SAY GOODBYE”, is sung out by the Riot! fanatics in the audience. The lead guitar riff from Justin softens and then with three strikes against the strings the song comes to an end, only briefly however as a bass introduction from ‘Jason Greenberg’ sets up the next song from the teenage icons.



Amy is stood center stage, smiling widely as she brings the microphone up towards her mouth, “This next song is from our upcoming album, we’ve never played it before, so you lucky few will be hearing before anybody else. Here’s ‘A Place Called Home’. Hope you like it.” She smiles as the powerful drum beats from Nathan come into the song and is quickly followed by the rhythmic playing by ‘Adam Benjamin’ who interacts with a female fan member at the front of the stage by sticking his tongue out and pulling all kinds of bizarre facial expressions, the music steps up once again with the leading riff from Justin who makes his way to the front center of the stage, Amy looks at him and smiles as she rests her head on his shoulder, Amy and Justin are reportedly the two in the band that fight and argue with each other a lot but tonight they seem in good spirits with each other and are performing brilliantly as Amy then moves forward slightly and begins singing;

“Staring down the barrel of familiarity
My hometown hasn’t changed at all throughout the years
It’s just the same reminder of who I will always be
I always thought I’d leave this place, spread my wings and learn to fly
I always thought I’d find the courage
But these days I can’t seem to find a reason why

All those familiar things are comfortable and safe
It’s a part of life that I’ve always known
And although I always say that I’m gonna leave someday
That familiarity stops me from going

I sleep in the same room that I did as a child
I sleep in the same bed that I had as a teenager
I stare at the walls that have surrounded me for many years
And I realize that I’m comfortable
I know that I’ll never leave
No matter how many times I dream
They’ll never really become reality”

Another brief instrumental break mid-way through the song puts the spotlight on both bassist ‘Jason Greenberg’ and drummer ‘Nathan Mullen’, as the guitarist steps forward slightly plucking the strings of his bass guitar, giving the songs instrumentation a deeper sound and the gigantic pounding sounds of the drumming giving the song the power and dramatic feel to the occasion, the two also show their technique and ability as instrumentalists as Amy gladly passes the spotlight however briefly to her fellow musicians, it’s nice to see them being given their own opportunity to shine, but the spotlight is quickly back onto the flame-haired singer as she moves back to the center of the stage, again jumping up and down as the lead guitar and rhythm guitar riffs come back into play, she brings the microphone up to her mouth and begins singing once more;

“But I stop myself
Maybe I’m too afraid
I’m just not destined to leave
Perhaps this is my hometown for a reason
And it’s safe and familiar
Maybe I’m not destined to roam
I’ll stick to this place
This place that I call home

I’ll sit in my room with a notebook and pen
I’ll write down my dreams and just let them fade away again
My friends will be out there, exploring the great wide open
I’ll never truly give up my dreams
I’ll never stop hoping

But it’s now so plain to see
Those sweet little fantasies no longer run away with me
While all the non-believers are just the same
And those long distance conversations still remain”

And with the final verse of the song the largely teenage and young adult crowd erupt once again, this time at the fact that Amy has just name-checked the band’s three biggest hits during the final verse of the song, Amy stands center stage with a huge smile upon her face almost like she’s bathing in the glory and adulation that the audience is giving her and as the instrumentals come to a close, each of the three guitarists step to the front of the stage alongside Amy and acknowledge the audience, smiling and raising their hands in appreciation of the energy that the crowd have brought to the performance, they take a brief bow but Amy brings the microphone up towards her mouth once again, she looks at Adam to her right and Jason and Justin to her left and then back out to the audience as she asks, “You guys wanna hear one more?”.
To which end the audience erupt as you’d imagine, the three guitarists quickly turn and get back into position as Amy stays stood center stage, she smiles, “Alright guys, this is from our last album, it’s a personal favourite but I may need a little quiet. It’s called ‘Trading Love And Faith In The Aftermath Of Heartbreak’”



‘Adam Benjamin’ has replaced his guitar and makes his way to Amy at the front of the stage while the other guys begin to play a gentle instrumental introduction. As Adam stands beside Amy, she like she did with Justin in the previous song, she looks at him and smiles, resting her hair upon his shoulder, Adam then places his arm on her left shoulder almost bringing her closer into his body for a friendly hug, he places a kiss upon the top of her head and they both smile to one-another, the audience in almost complete silence as just the soft instrumental from the band that surrounds her can be heard playing, with her head still resting on Adam’s shoulder, Amy then brings the microphone up to her mouth once again as she softly sings the opening lines to the band’s song;

“Echo, echo can you still hear my voice
It may have faded a little over time but it’s still within me
While I may have lost the things I once had
The fire in my stomach has never burned so deeply
And since you went away and left me alone
Well, to cut a long story short
I’ve spent these last few years in the shadows
Burying myself away until the perfect opportunity has arisen
In this chamber of hearts that has become my own prison

So you’re happy now, you’ve found someone new
Well I guess it’s time for my revenge
Because your happiness is my cue
I’ll check myself in the mirror
To make sure that my hair falls perfectly in place
I’ll wear the close that you used to like
And I will look at you with a smile on my face
I’ll bite my bottom lip because I know that you can’t resist it
You always had a soft spot for this unlovable misfit”

The audience remain almost completely silent save for the few that are quietly singing along while the other have raised their mobile phones in the air in an attempt to add to the emotional atmosphere that the song and in particular Amy’s singing bring to the performance, Amy’s head is still resting softly upon Adam’s shoulder as he plays the tender guitar instrumental to the song while Justin, Jason and Nathan all continue to add to the mood with their soft instrumental backing but the spotlight has fallen on the two stood center stage, if you didn’t know better than you’d think that love is blossoming right there in front of your eyes but it’s clear that it the closeness between both Amy and Adam just adds to the tender emotion of the final song of the evening, during a very brief instrumental break, Amy closed her eyes but as she opens them up again and brings the microphone close to her once more, she continues to sing;

“I don’t need your arms wrapped around me
I don’t need your heart beating with mine
I don’t need you holding me close on those cold winter nights
I don’t need any of that, this time
I’m learning something that’s completely new
Apparently it’s a thing called loneliness
But everything you’ve heard about it untrue

Loneliness is underrated
You get full control of your own heart
Instead of relying on someone else to make it better
Only you can break it apart
See, it’s not that I hate people, I just feel better when they’re not around
I don’t find loneliness scary anymore
I think it’s meaningful and profound

I’m trading love and faith in the aftermath of heartbreak
This defeated heart is destined to be alone
The girl that once needed to be protected and loved
Well, she doesn’t need that anymore
So I’m trading love and faith in the aftermath of heartbreak
I don’t need anyone to make me happy
I can do that on my own”

The audience begin to cheer and ripples of applause begin throughout the crowd in front of the band as they thought that the song had come to its end but they quickly stop as Adam continues to play his guitar with the soft instrumentation continuing, the rest of the band have stopped with the exception of Adam and Amy, she gives a tender smile to the audience as she begins to continue singing;

“Took this love and took it down
Climbed a mountain and turned around
And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hill
Till the landslide brought me down
Oh’ mirror in the sky, what is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
And can I sail through the changing ocean tides
Can I handle the seasons of my life?
Oh, I don’t know”

Amy smiles softly once more and her voice now rather quiet, she asks the audience, “Can you guys sing along to this beautiful song?”, the audience cheer lightly as she continues to sing a cover of Landslide by Fleetwood Mac, the audience members that know the lyrics to the song await the guitar instrumentation that indicates the next few lines of the song and as Amy begins singing, a vast majority of the crowd begin singing the iconic lines to the 70’s classic written by Stevie Nicks;

“Well I’ve been afraid of changing
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Children get older and I’m getting older too
Yes I’m getting older too, so

I’ve been afraid of changing
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Children get older
And I’m getting older too
Yes I’m getting older too

So, take this love, take it down
Oh if you climb the mountain and turn around
If you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well the landslide will bring you down
And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well maybe the landslide will bring you down”

As the song ends on its sombre note Amy smiles to the audience before wrapping her arms around the shoulders of Adam Benjamin. Each member of the band including drummer ‘Nathan Mullen’ make their way to the front of the stage and line up side by side, all smiling and clearly delighted with the way that the performance has went down, they all take a bow and acknowledge the audience once again before embracing each other individually, the audience continue to cheer as the band remain centre stage, Amy light-heartedly thanks the audience for coming out to see them on such short notice before they make their way backstage as the MTV titles roll down the screen to the sound of the audiences applause and cheers.

SETLIST;
Somewhere On The Horizon
A Place Called Home (The Leaving Song)
Trading Love And Faith In The Aftermath Of Heartbreak
Landslide (Fleetwood Mac Cover)