We Are The In Crowd | Greene Street Club; Greensboro, NC

Photo by Caitlyn Willard

Show Review: The Reunion Tour 3/28

The Reunion Tour Featuring:
Candy Hearts
State Champs
William Beckett
Set It Off
We Are The In Crowd

The Reunion Tour hit the Greene Street Club on Friday, March 28th, in Greensboro, NC. Before doors even opened, there was already a long line of fans eagerly awaiting the music filled night ahead of them. This tour is We Are the In Crowd’s first time headlining in the US and it has been a successful one so far. 

Candy Hearts started off the night to a slightly slow start. They received a quiet welcome to the stage from the audience, perhaps because they were the least well known of the bands on tour. Lead vocalist, Mariel Loveland seemed a bit nervous for the first few songs of their set, but eventually she began to loosen up and the crowd did too. For the last song of their set they asked for the audience to sing a line from the chorus and they cheerfully sang along until the end. 

Next up was State Champs, a pop punk band from Albany, NY. The energy was brought as soon as they hit the stage. Vocalist, Derek Discanio, immediately asked the crowd to move up closer as soon as he arrived to the stage. Discanio has an incredible voice that blends perfectly with the high energy instrumentals from the rest of the band. The band has an amazing stage presence and are constantly moving around the stage and interacting with fans in the crowd. Throughout their set fans were singing along to the words, but it was fan favorites, “Remedy”, and closing song, “Elevated”, that really sent the energy in the room to the next level.

Set It Off was next on the bill and having seen them on multiple occasions I knew they were going to be one of my favorite acts of the night. Their set began with a slew of theatrics, including black hoodies, red masks and a voice over of a storyteller explaining what the show was going to entail. Frontman, Cody Carson, continued the theatrical story of a romance gone wrong, telling a little more of the story between each song. My favorite part about Set It Off’s live performances is that they leave no member of the crowd unattended. Each member of the band was singing and making eye contact with fans throughout their set. Carson reached into the crowd multiple times, stood on crowd’s hands and crowd surfed, putting huge smiles on fan’s faces. My only complaint would be that their set was too short and I wanted to see more. 

The lights began to dim and the sound of Eminem’s “My Name Is” started to play with an overdub of William Beckett’s voice saying “Hi, my name is, William Beckett”. It’s clear that Beckett wanted his set to be a fun and enjoyable one. Beckett also showed a soft side, he is a great story teller and shared stories of bullying and struggles and encouraged people to keep their heads up and to keep looking forward. Beckett invited Carson back on the stage to perform a song and claimed that they would be performing “a new song that they just wrote that day”. They then began to break out into Katy Perry’s hit song, “Dark Horse”, much to the amusement of the audience. Beckett ended his set with, “About a Girl”, one of his hits from his former band, The Academy Is…. This got the crowd very excited and ended his performance on a high note. 

Finally, after all the energizing performances from the opening acts, it was time for the headliners, We Are the In Crowd. The band began with their new hit, “The Best Thing (That Never Happened)”, off their recently released album, Weird Kids. This instantly got the crowd energized and excited for the rest of the show. Vocalists, Tay Jardine and Jordan Eckes’ voices bounced off each other beautifully and you can tell that based on the fun interactions with all members of the band on stage that there is great chemistry in this group. Midway through their set, WATIC slowed things down to play, “Windows in Heaven”, a personal song about Jardine’s late father. You could tell by the emotion in her voice that this song is very special to her. WATIC continued playing a mix of new and old songs throughout the rest of the night, which included fan favorites, “Kiss Me Again” and their finale song, “Rumor Mill”. The night ended well and I believe WATIC are going on to do great things. 

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Photos and written by Caitlyn Willard

Review:: Weird Kids | We Are The In Crowd

As music fans, we can be very hard to please sometimes. We ask a lot from our favorite artists – we want progression, but we want them to stick to their roots. We want something huge and different, but we want it to sound like what we already know. We want things tailored directly to us, and we want it every ten months or so.

But, as fickle as we can be, we don’t always need a masterpiece. In the end, we’re just hoping to be entertained.

Poughkeepsie’s We Are the In Crowd have a very solid reputation around these parts. They’re a group that we’ve kept an eye on and have always wished the best for. (Note: if a band is from, like, a two-hour radius of where I live, I consider them “local.” So, there’s that). On their sophomore full-length Weird Kids, the group delivers a product that is three years in-the-making.

It doesn’t take long for the album to show signs of the group’s growth throughout their past few years. The multi-useful (more on this later) “Long Live the Kids” is a soft, powerful piano ballad that swells into massive, youthful grandeur while boasting an impressive vocal performance from Tay Jardine. “The Best Thing (That Never Happened),” Weird Kids’ lead single, quickly follows, erupting past the album’s booming introduction and diving into a quick, aggressive pop-punk attack. When Jardine takes hold of the string-laced “Don’t You Worry” later, the track absolutely soars, volleying back and forth between a classical/pop split and a pop-punk sprint.

While Jardine’s vocals may be as crisp as they’ve ever been, Jordan Eckes’ contributions can’t be ignored. The split vocal duties that we’ve grown to enjoy from We Are the In Crowd are present and in full force. The dual guitars of Eckes and Cameron Hurley tear into “Dreaming Out Loud,” where the singers share the chorus rather than splitting vocal duties, harmonizing well and delivering solid performances from both. “Manners,” which is thrown into the important third song slot, is what we love to get from this band – a captivating introduction, beautiful split vocals, and a huge chorus all result in an all-around success.

Lyrically, the album falls off a bit at times. The “all my exes live in Texas” line that leads into “Remember (To Forget You)” starts the song off on poor footing, but the group quickly recovers. Other than that, the record is very well-written. “Attention” is one of the catchiest songs, serving as a title track of sorts. Mike Ferri’s basslines rumble along beneath the verses before Jardine belts a chorus of “I know the way I want to be / but I’m trapped in who I am. / The only thing that holds me back is not believing. / We are the only friends we have.”

The group slows things down twice, with the exception of the introduction; once on “Come Back Home,” and again on “Windows in Heaven,” both of which (and especially the latter) are very vocally-carried. The first is a strong acoustic duet, while the second is dark and distant, unlike anything else on the record but still showcasing Jardine’s talent. It’s a chance for her voice to really shine, and she doesn’t miss her mark.

I mentioned earlier how “Long Live the Kids” is multi-useful. I say this because it could have found a home as either the opener or the closer, much like how ending “Reflections” could handle either role. I’m not saying that the placement of either one is wrong, but in my opinion, “Long Live the Kids” works better as an opener than “Reflections” does as a closer (and vice versa).

There are plenty of reasons for the three-year gap between We Are the In Crowd albums, I’m sure – Warped Tour summers, rigorous writing, a handful of other tours, etc. etc. But mostly, this group has matured far beyond what a ≈ 36-month span would entail. Weird Kids is an album from a band that is where they are because of their fans. It tells us that it’s okay to be a little bit off, a little bit out there. We’re all just weird kids in the end.

Release Date: February 18^th, 2014
Rating: 4/5
Runtime: 30:42

Tracklist:
01. Long Live The Kids
02. The Best Thing (That Never Happened)
03. Manners
04. Come Back Home
05. Attention
06. Dreaming Out Loud
07. Remember (To Forget You)
08. Don’t You Worry
09. Windows In Heaven
10. Reflections 

We Are the In Crowd are: 
Taylor Jardine – Vocals, keyboards
Jordan Eckes – Guitar, vocals
Cameron Hurley – Guitar
Mike Ferri – Bass
Robert Chianelli – Drums

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Written By: Eric Riley

https://www.tumblr.com/audio_file/thisislucyoutloud/10750293248/tumblr_ls6vg11hju1qa23bs?plead=please-dont-download-this-or-our-lawyers-wont-let-us-host-audio

fuckyeahhayleywilliams:

Better Luck Next Time – We Are The In Crowd

Loving this new song from their up-coming album, Best Intentions.

Jordan(@JordanEckes) from We Are The In Crowd(@wearetheincrowd) loving out loud