RIOT! IN THE BOULEVARD – CROSSROADS WORLD TOUR 2013
THE OPENING NIGHTS



Never has there been more expectation on the shoulders of a group of youths than there was from the opening two evenings on the ‘Crossroads World Tour’. With opening sets coming from indie rocker ‘Sara Daniels’ and the often under-rated duo ‘Pretty Little Freaks’ the crowds gathered in their huge numbers and to relative surprise the opening two shows were at sell-out capacity for both supporting acts. A lot of fans tend to arrive in time for the main sets but with two well-known and popular acts opening up it’s been made pretty clear that it’s not all just about Riot! as both opening acts showed exactly why they were asked to appear on the bill.

It was Riot! however who commanded the stage with all of the dominance of a band much older than the nineteen year olds that make up Riot! In The Boulevard. On the opening night, from the first moments of their appearance onstage it was clear that this was going to be a memorable evening and evidently from the second night of the tour it’s going to follow suit throughout the year. As Amy with her boundless energy bounced from side to side, jumping up and down, waving her arms back and forth and hollering at the audience exclaimed, “We’re gonna have a party for the next nine months!” and backed perfectly by her band who appeared to not play out of time at any stage during the mind-boggling three-hour set and deserve the acknowledgement as individual musicians that they so often don’t get. But it’s the combination of them all together that makes this work, Amy works the stage like a bundle of fire (the red hair works in favour of this metaphor), while Jason and Nathan keep the ship steady usually from the back of the stage, Justin shines regularly for his powerful guitar riffs while Adam with his guitar is Amy’s onstage foil as he’s often not far from the enigmatic frontwoman and she relies on his own energy to help her along the way.

The opening two nights opened up with a song never-before-heard from Riot!, titled ‘When The Stars Come Out To Play’. Whether it’s an entirely new track for future release remains to be seen but it’s lyrics seem tailor-made for the bands first headlining world tour and serves as the perfect theme, it was quickly followed by ‘All The Stars And Boulevards’ and seemed quite an apt selection to follow-up the stars theme. Then the setlists changed between both nights, it seems like throughout the tour that the opening two songs will remain the same while the bulk of the main set will change accordingly depending on the bands feelings and thoughts.
Interestingly on the opening night, mid-way through the main set the band ran through a three song collection of long distance relationship songs ‘Long Distance Conversations’ the honest but hopeful track from their debut, ‘A Million Miles Can’t Break Us’ written by Justin Mullen and equally hopeful from their sophomore album and finally ‘Our Long Distance Hell’ which signals the end of the hopefulness. That run of songs did not continue during the second night’s performance from the pop-punk outfit.

The band ended the main set on both opening nights with ‘Something Old, Something New’ and another track, the first night it was another from their huge debut ‘A Moment, An Hour, A Lifetime’ and the second night it was their most recent single, the number one single ‘How Did We Get Here?’ which was a surprise as many anticipated it to be left until the encore for the second evenings performance.
For both concerts, the band left the stage briefly and returned within a couple of minutes to play an eleven song encore set which began on both occasions with ‘All The Non-Believers’ and ‘Remember Me As A Place In Time’ and then both nights differed once again with the first including ‘Written In The Stars’, ‘This Doesn’t Feel Like Home Anymore’ and ‘Spotlight’ all from their most recent third studio album ‘Crossroads’. Both encore setlists included ‘Sweet Little Fantasies’ as many expected and the bands own favourite ‘Trading Love And Faith In The Aftermath Of Heartbreak’ was again given a dominant role in the encore set. In addition, ‘Spotlight’ which featured a couple of gentle rap verses from ‘Isaac Lovelock’ on the original was given to ‘Adam Benjamin’ who stepped up to the microphone for Isaac’s verses and did a solid job in the process.
The final thing worth noting from the concerts, besides the sheer energy and enthusiasm onstage was the inclusion of two brand new songs, ‘To All Of The Names Written On The Inside Of My Arm’ and on the second night the addition of another new track titled ‘Melancholy Road’. Perhaps a couple of future singles? Who knows … but one thing is for sure, these kids certainly know how to give their fans a show and at only $20 with 23 and 24 songs played you certainly get a whole lot more than your money’s worth.

Setlists;

Rogers Centre, Toronto, Canada – January 26

1. When The Stars Come Out To Play (Intro)
2. All The Stars And Boulevards
3. Twilight Of My Youth
4. The Cradle To The Grave
5. Mona Lisa Smile
6. Dear Diary
7. How Did We Get Here?
8. Long Distance Conversations
9. A Million Miles Can’t Break Us
10. Our Long Distance Hell
11. Something Old, Something New
12. A Moment, An Hour, A Lifetime
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13. All The Non-Believers
14. Remember Me As A Place In Time
15. Making The Best Out Of What I Never Had
16. Written In The Stars
17. This Doesn’t Feel Like Home Anymore
18. Somewhere On The Horizon
19. The Rules Of Love And The Games You Play
20. To All Of The Names Written On The Inside Of My Arm*
21. Trading Love And Faith In The Aftermath Of Heartbreak
22. Spotlight
23. Sweet Little Fantasies

Bell Centre, Montreal, Canada – January 28

1. When The Stars Come Out To Play (Intro)
2. All The Stars And Boulevards
3. All Is Fair In Love And War
4. You Use Me (Like A Puppet On A String)
5. The Webs That You Weave
6. Long Distance Conversations
7. Dear Diary
8. Trying, Crying, Smiling And Dying
9. Written In The Stars
10. This Doesn’t Feel Like Home Anymore
11. A Moment, An Hour, A Lifetime
12. Something Old, Something New
13. How Did We Get Here?
--
14. All The Non-Believers
15. Remember Me As A Place In Time
16. Sweet Little Fantasies
17. The Ruins You Created And The Hearts That You Took
18. Somewhere On The Horizon
19. Making The Best Out Of What I Never Had
20. The Rules Of Love And The Games That You Play
21. To All Of The Names Written On The Inside Of My Arm*
22. Melancholy Road*
23. Trading Love And Faith In The Aftermath Of Heartbreak
24. Spotlight

Note - * means new song

RIOT! IN THE BOULEVARD
February 27, 2013 – United Center, Chicago, Illinois
[Live Review]



“Scream it, boys and girls/This is what voices were made for/Give it your best shot, kids/This is war!” bellows out the petite frontwoman of one of the biggest names to grace a stage in recent memory. Those lyrics are from a new song, although fans who have caught any of the shows so far on the tour will have heard the intro track which is aptly titled ‘When The Stars Come Out To Play’. It’s an opener that is very much centred around energy and youthful exuberance and at the United Center in front of almost 24,000 Chicago natives, energy and exuberance is the very minimum that Amy Meyer and co. brought to the party.
Energy was an inevitable ingredient for tonight’s show, even prior to the headlining band arriving onstage as the 23,700 fans made their way into the indoor sports arena two hours before the main act in order to see opening performances from Sara Daniels and Pretty Little Freaks, both of which provided the sort of enthusiasm and build-up of energy that Riot! In The Boulevard clearly like to embrace, both supporting acts are very much pop-rock acts in a similar sort of vein to Riot! and both acts are established enough to have a pretty large portion of the audience singing along to their own songs and this is no doubt why they were hand-picked by Amy Meyer and her rag-tag bunch of misfits and losers as she so often describes them.

The audience erupted as the band came rushing out onstage and dove straight into the aforementioned intro song ‘When The Stars Come Out To Play’ and in quick succession played through two tracks from their self-titled debut with ‘All The Stars And Boulevards’ and ‘Kiss Goodbye To The Harvest Moon’ giving this largely teen/young-adult based audience the sort of magical summer’s never gonna end sort of feeling with the lyrics drenched in adolescent love and hopeful nostalgia that the band quickly become beloved for.
The music faded into soft background noise as Amy took a couple of moments to thank the audience for making their way to the show this evening, “We are Riot! In The Boulevard.” she paused slightly as the audience erupted in cheers, overpowering the red-haired frontwoman before she continued, “And we want to thank you all, from the deepest depths our heart and soul, for coming out tonight in the Chicago cold. We thank you for showing up tonight, because without such an amazing and dedicated fanbase we wouldn’t be here right now.” the crowd cheer once again at the acknowledgement from the lead singer before she continues once again, “So as a way of saying the biggest thank you that we possibly can, we’re gonna try to make this the most memorable rock and roll show of your lives. But we’re gonna need you to give us the fuel, so … from now until 11:45, I want all of you guys and girls to sing along to every word of every song that you know.” the crowd cheers and she turns to her band mates standing behind her and nods her head before jumping into the air and screaming, “Let’s go!”.

The shift of focus then went to the theme of adolescent heartbreak and revenge, firstly with ‘My Revenge Is Your Death’ which had a large portion of female fans singing in full voice, clearly feeling the words of the song and knowing exactly who they are directing those words towards, a rare sight to see a band go through a range of different feelings and emotions in a four song run, but that continued even further as they went to the theme of growing up and trying to let go of your past with ‘Dear Diary’, a coming-of-age track that many dedicated fans look at as one of this young bands greatest lyrical accomplishments as it cut to the core of not only what the band were feeling at that time but also what their audience who have continuously grown-up with Riot! dominating the soundtrack to their lives and with the final words of the song ringing in the ears of those inside the United Center, you could almost hear a pin-drop. Of course the silence didn’t last too long as the band kicked into a powerful drums and guitar track ‘Mona Lisa Smile’ with an emphasis on a beautiful soul that is just too unattainable, read from that what you will.
It’s quickly followed by another track that shows more for the instrumental abilities of the band as a whole than the enigmatic lead singer of the band, with a driving guitar riff half-way through ‘Twilight Of My Youth’ at the hands of Justin Mullen and a very prominent bass line throughout the whole four minute track provided by Jason Greenberg give the reminder that each member of this band brings a something to the table.

The electric guitars are quickly replaced by acoustics for the emotional section of the show which dominates the next three tracks, the first two of which are linked, ‘A Million Miles Can’t Break Us’ and ‘Our Long Distance Hell’, the first being the hopeful and the second being the hopeless, it brings the crowd into a state of solemnness as their mobile devices are raised high into the air throughout the majority of both tracks, Amy’s voice on these softer songs becomes beautiful and tender in comparison to the powerful energy that she usually exudes.
The two guitar players, Adam Benjamin and Justin Mullen make their towards the front of the stage where they stand alongside Amy as they tenderly run through a one of the tracks from their most recent album, the track in question is titled, ‘The Webs That You Weave’ and it’s a song that covers a darker side to love where control is the most dominant element of the relationship. As that song ends, the stage goes dark for a couple of brief seconds, during which both Adam and Justin have replaced their guitars to electric and all of a sudden, the stage erupts with pyrotechnics and the shadowy image of Amy Meyer jumping high into the air is one of the images that will no doubt stay with a large portion of the audience as their screams and cheers clearly show.

A powerful guitar riff from Justin Mullen signals the return of the bands more lively instincts, firstly on ‘Written In The Stars’ where a particular highlight comes when Amy sings, “It’s written in the stars/It’s blazed across the sky/It’s buried in our soul/Until the day we die.” showing that the band have an uncanny ability to write catchy stadium rock choruses that have the ability to bring an entire sports arena to their feet and as that song plays out, it’s quickly followed by another from their most recent studio album, ‘This Doesn’t Feel Like Home Anymore’ which show the continuing maturity in the band, not only as people but also as song writers, choosing to put their own doubts and fears of growing older into their songs, something that their continually growing fanbase certainly appear to appreciate rather greatly, judging by their reaction.

A brief break from the music means that Amy has the chance to acknowledge the crowd once more, “Are you guys having fun yet?” a rather dumb question considering the way the evening has gone so far, “We feel like we’ve reached the highest point of our careers pretty often, with each show that goes well, we think we’ll never top it or never have a better reaction, but you guys out there in the audience, singing along to every single word with me always amaze me and make me feel the way that we did when we first started out. So I want to just quickly thank you all once again, for continually making me remain in love with music.” she then jumps into the air as the opening guitar riff this time from Adam Benjamin signals another song, ‘A Moment, An Hour, A Lifetime’ and again creates a lasting image and memory into the minds of the crowd tonight, that image is of Amy Meyer, standing as close to the edge of the stage as possible, waving her arm from side to side while singing, “So if it take a moment to like/And an hour to love/A lifetime to forget/I guess it’s easier to regret.”
The band then drive through the final three songs of the main set in quick succession, firstly with ‘Remember Me As A Place In Time’ then recent single, ‘How Did We Get Here?’ and finally one of their many crowd pleasers, ‘You Use Me (Like A Puppet On A String)’ which ends with the band fading into the darkness.

The crowd cheer and applaud continuously for a couple of minutes in an attempt to coax the five-piece band back out onstage, which was clearly gonna happen anyway considering the fact that there was still so much ground to be covered from tonight’s performance. And that is exactly what did happen, as Nathan set up back behind the drums, Jason wandered out with his bass guitar draped over his shoulder and Adam and Justin both moving around the stage wielding their electric guitars like weapons, the drums kicked into action alongside the bass before the electric guitars joined the party and the pyrotechnics went off once again. And perfectly on cue came Amy Meyer, running to the front of the stage, jumping up and down with the microphone in her hand as the band drove through three hit singles in rapid succession, ‘All The Non-Believers’, ‘Something Old, Something New’ and most recent single, ‘A Place Called Home (The Leaving Song)’.
The clashing combination of the guitars continued to drive the band forward, for a track called, ‘The Ruins You Created And The Hearts That You Took’, it’s a teenage angst sort of song but it’s not short and catchy like you’d come to expect from Riot! In The Boulevard and their ever-expanding repertoire of pop-punk anthems. No, it’s a lengthy and wordy track that but it keeps the crowd in a vibrant mood to say the least, but for those that prefer the fiery pop-punk tunes, their patience is duly rewarded.

‘Somewhere On The Horizon’, the lead single from their recent third studio album is enough to set the crowd into another frenzy, as the number #1 hit is something that practically everybody in the venue could sing along to and that’s exactly what they did, the follow-up track was ‘Your Heart Is Where I Need To Be’ which is unashamedly romantic and beautiful at its heart and it certainly seems to be a song that flourishes in the live environment, perhaps even more so than the studio version of the song.
So with not too long to go until the band leave the stage for good, it was time for Amy give a little something new to the fans, “We have written so many songs since being on the road, there’s enough material for another new album and judging by what we have from the sixteen or seventeen new tracks that we’ve got stored, it’s gonna be our best record yet!” this sets off the crowd as you’d imagine, “We don’t know when we’re gonna find the time to record these songs, we’ll be on the road for most of the year.” she pauses for emphasis, “But we want you to hear a few of them right now!” the audience erupts and Amy smiles widely, “This one is called … To All Of The Names Written On The Inside Of My Arm” which receives a big reception from the audience, many of whom have no doubt searched out amateur live footage of the track from previous shows and some are already singing along to the songs lyrics, “This one goes out to all of the names written on the inside of my arm/From the cheaters and the liars/To the good guys that never meant no harm/They turned bad and caused so much distress/But I loved them all I guess.” a surprise even to Amy as she made her way into the next song, “You guys are good”.
That next song is titled, ‘Cold Hearts and Broken Memories’ which Amy declared, “This has never been performed live before.” a unique moment for the 24,000 fans inside the venue tonight and the track proved to be quintessential Riot! In The Boulevard material as its lyrics concur, “Bring out the martyr’s and stand them side by side/Bring out each one of the wallflower’s so that they can no longer hide/Bring out the victims/The punks and revolutionaries/Bring out the dreamers of pixie’s and fairies.”

Amy then declared, “Now it’s time for some real fun.” as the band powered into the opening intro to ‘The Rules Of Love And The Games You Play’ and Amy stepped to the edge of the stage, she then took a step back before leaping into the audience. She was moved around by a sea of arms for a few moments as the band took the change to extend their instrumental abilities a little further before Amy was then sent back towards the stage, she jumped up and down and waved her arms from side to side, surprising everyone with her energy after a little over 3 hours of raucous live performance but she still had enough energy left to drive through three final songs.
First up, ‘Trading Love And Faith In The Aftermath Of Heartbreak’ and then quickly followed by ‘Spotlight’ which featured a large video projected onto the screen of Isaac Lovelock taking his rap verse mid-way through the song and the audience have went along with every second of tonight’s performance, they themselves have been the fuel for Amy Meyer and the band and they deserve credit for that.
This fact was evident as the band surprisingly went straight into the twenty-eighth song of the night, oldest members of the band Justin and Nathan Mullen have only recently turned 20 and the band already have such an extensive back catalogue already, it’s a staggering fact.

The music died down for a couple of brief moments and the stage turned to darkness, silence surrounded the venue until Amy Meyer bellowed into the microphone for one final song, “SWEET LITTLE FANTASIES!” to which the room erupted perhaps more so than any other moment of the evening so far and the guitarists bounced around the stage for another four minutes alongside the flailing red-haired lead singer and as the music came towards it’s end, the band all made their way towards the front of the stage, held hands with one another before acknowledging the audiences incessant passion for the music of Riot! In The Boulevard.
Many of the crowd outside of the venue, prior to the show tonight were heard stating that this is going to be one of those evenings that they just won’t be able to forget or indeed replicate. This was true, but surely even the most obsessed fan couldn’t have expected so much from such a young band.

Setlist;
1. When The Stars Come Out To Play (Intro)
2. All The Stars And Boulevards
3. Kiss Goodbye To The Harvest Moon
4. My Revenge Is Your Death
5. Dear Diary
6. Mona Lisa Smile
7. Twilight Of My Youth
8. A Million Miles Can’t Break Us
9. Our Long Distance Hell
10. The Webs That You Weave
11. Written In The Stars
12. This Doesn’t Feel Like Home Anymore
13. A Moment, An Hour, A Lifetime
14. Remember Me As A Place In Time
15. How Did We Get Here?
16. You Use Me (Like A Puppet On A String)
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17. All The Non-Believers
18. Something Old, Something New
19. A Place Called Home (The Leaving Song)
20. The Ruins You Created And The Hearts That You Took
21. Somewhere On The Horizon
22. Your Heart Is Where I Need To Be
23. To All Of The Names Written On The Inside Of My Arm
24. Cold Hearts And Broken Memories
25. The Rules Of Love And The Games You Play
26. Trading Love And Faith In The Aftermath Of Heartbreak
27. Spotlight
28. Sweet Little Fantasies