23/Panic at the Disco/Pretty.Odd.
DISCLAIMER: Sorry, but I think that you’ve heard this one before.
We couldn’t wrap our heads around it. It was just too unfathomable to believe. Bloc Party was not only (a) one of the opening acts on this Fueled By Ramen trek across America, but they were also (b) opening for PANIC! AT THE DISCO!(?#@*!)How did that happen? Silent Alarm, pre Weekend in the City Bloc Party? Oh Word? I, I, I just didn’t know if I could handle it. But our tickets were in hand and we were committed, committed to seeing Bloc Party perform, except they weren’t. Someone got sick, a plane was missed, I don’t know. So there we were. Me and my girl. In Long Beach. Here for Bloc Party. And waiting for Panic! At the Disco. I didn’t know what to expect. I had long ago written off this band as something not for me, so imagine my surprise when the lights when down, the screams went BOOM and the boys of Panic! At the Disco took the stage. The show was all stilts and top hats, sideshow dancers and spectacle. In other words, it was overwhemingly ambitious and highly riveting. The most telling moments of the show occurred early on, mid set, as lead singer Brandon Urie lead his band in two damn near perfect covers of Queen’s Killer Queen and the Beatles' Eleanor Rigby. Both covers were wonderfully executed and totally caught me, as well as the stone faced “I don’t know this one” teenage crowd by surprise. Little did I know it was a road that would soon become highly traveled by the boys in the now exclamation less Panic at the Disco for their 2008 album Pretty. Odd. Here’s hoping said title is a play on words, a sarcastic turn of phrase if you will, for there is nothing odd about this buoyant collection of orchestral and baroque like pop. Gone are the herky-jerky, uptempo compositions of their Fueled by Ramen brethren present throughout their highly successful predecessor A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. In its place instead is a collection of skillfully crafted tunes steeped in Beatlesque fervor, rich in gorgeous harmonies, and colored by playful, poetry like verse, and lush instrumentation. It’s a far cry from the asymmetrical haircuts and guyliner tinged look and music of days past. As mentioned in track five, That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed), things have indeed changed for the boys in Panic at the Disco this time around, and they are all the better for it.
KEY TRACKS: Nine in the Afternoon/I Have Friends in Holy Places/Northern Downpour
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