Jan 29

Jan 29 Show Review: Motion City Soundtrack Amaze With Sold Out Berkeley Show

Motion City Soundtrack performing at The UC Theatre in Berkeley, CA. January 25, 2020. Photo Credit: Jared Stossel

Motion City Soundtrack
w/ Mom Jeans., Elder Brother
The UC Theatre
Berkeley, CA
January 25, 2020
Photos and review by Jared Stossel

The gang's back together* *to clean out the rehearsal space and sell all our gear. 😢

2,979 Likes, 289 Comments - Motion City Soundtrack (@motioncitysoundtrack) on Instagram: "The gang's back together* *to clean out the rehearsal space and sell all our gear. 😢"

On April 23, 2017, a year after they had played their “farewell” tour, Motion City Soundtrack posted a photo to their Instagram page which stated the following: “The gang’s back together* *to clean out our rehearsal space and sell all our gear”. Out of any band that had broken up in years prior, we were all pretty convinced that Motion City Soundtrack was going to be one of the last bands to pick up the gauntlet in the coming years. It seemed pretty clear that they were done with this band, at least for quite a while.

12.31.19

3,921 Likes, 818 Comments - Motion City Soundtrack (@motioncitysoundtrack) on Instagram: "12.31.19"

Then comes June 2019, in which the band posts a rather cryptic photo to that same Instagram profile, showing a grainy black-and-white video clip of them performing, fading into the numbers “12.31.19”. A week later, Motion City Soundtrack officially announced the “Don’t Call It A Comeback” North American tour, and tickets were swept up in the blink of an eye. Last Saturday night, the Minneapolis-based quintet brought their highly anticipated reunion tour to a completely sold-out crowd at Berkeley’s UC Theatre.

The tremendous lesson that I believe tours like this are imparting on fans of these bands is that it really is okay to take some time off. Live your life, reflect, spend time with loved ones, and then come back. The industry really seems to drill it into you that you need to always be present, always be in peoples’ range of sight, or you’re suddenly irrelevant. This is not true. Taking time off can actually be immensely beneficial for a band. Motion City Soundtrack looked and sounded better than I’ve seen them in the last fifteen years. The time off really appeared to do wonders for them; they looked completely refreshed and ready to take on the world.

The show was opened by the Bay Area’s own Elder Brother and Mom Jeans, two bands that brought their own unique flair to the evening’s festivities. Elder Brother provided an indie/alt-rock sound to kick things off, while Mom Jeans implemented more of a pop/punk-rock vibe into the evening’s soundtrack. The structure of the lineup worked well, and fans were more than ready for Motion City Soundtrack, who took the stage and immediately launched into Commit This To Memory’s “Attractive Today” and “Everything Is Alright”. You didn’t even have time to breathe, and the crowd wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Songs followed at a constant pace throughout the evening, with the band taking moments in between songs to talk to the crowd. Frontman Justin Pierre took a moment to remark how drummer Tony Thaxton had sliced his hand open prior to them taking the stage because he had thwarted a robber outside the show. Thaxton then took the microphone and went on to explain how Pierre had exacerbated the story, explaining that he actually cut it open while slicing a lime earlier in the evening. Funny little moments and quips like this were commonplace throughout the show, and it only added to the fun.

The band poured through a catalogue of songs that made up some of their best albums, including Even If It Kills Me (“Broken Heart”, “This Is For Real”, “It Had To Be You”), My Dinosaur Life (“Disappear”, “Her Words Destroyed My Planet”, “A Lifeless Ordinary (Need A Little Help)”, and even I Am The Movie (“Capital H”, “Indoor Living”, “My Favorite Accident”). After eighteen songs, Motion City Soundtrack returned to the stage to perform two fan-favorites: “L.G. FUAD” from Commit This To Memory and “The Future Freaks Me Out” from I Am The Movie. Pierre barely even had to sing the verses, as the entire crowd screamed every word back to the stage in utter euphoria. This was definitely a night to remember at The U.C. Theatre, and one that Motion City Soundtrack fans will remember for years to come. And while the future still freaks us all out, we can all rest a little easier knowing that this band is back in our lives and doing what they do best.