When I interviewed The Cab’s lead singer, Alex DeLeon, [two weeks ago](http://move.themaneater.com/stories/2012/8/10/take-ride-cab/), he told me that his band’s co-headlining tour with Parachute is “a cool tour because it’s different.”
“We’re very different bands,” he said. “But we also have a lot of the same influences so it’s not weird.”
He couldn’t have been more right.
Opening the first of the headlining performances this Thursday night with their song “Temporary Bliss,” The Cab made quite the entrance. Green lasers projected in a fan towards the ceiling, which keyboardist/guitarist Alex Marshall then proceeded to tap, almost like plucking the strings of a harp. The spectacle provided for a captivating show for the audience that only further enhanced the band’s music.
From there on out, The Cab seemed to have the audience hooked. Decked out in his trademark beanie and chain, DeLeon belted hit singles “Bad” and “Angel with a Shotgun,” into which he threw snippets of One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful” and Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream,” much to the delight of the squealing crowd.
With the energy of the “Salt and Pepper” duo of bassist Joey Thunder and drummer Dave Briggs and the many talents of new touring member, Chantry Johnson, who sang a decent amount of backup to DeLeon’s lead as well as played guitar and cello, The Cab kept the audience jumping and visibly excited all the way through the final song, “La La.”
(Also, here, I would like to personally thank the fan that “iced” DeLeon onstage. Genius. Pure genius.)
Later that night, Parachute made their own sort of dramatic entrance. When band members Kit French, Johnny Stubblefield, Alex Hargrave and Nate McFarland hit the stage and launched into the performance, lead singer Will Anderson was nowhere to be found. After singing a mini-medley of Parachute songs from behind the curtain, Anderson ran onto the stage to an eruption of screams as he began to belt “Back Again.”
Anderson was a master of interaction with the audience. From encouraging the audience to echo his notes to hopping into the crowd during the band’s Steve Winwood cover, he kept the crowd engaged from the set’s start to finish. With Anderson’s endless charm, all it took was removing his leather jacket for the sea of (mostly) girls in the audience to erupt into screams and nearly trample me for a chance to move closer to the stage. Even his signature incessant lip-licking (and therefore excessive flying spit) seemed completely overlooked in favor of his blue-eyed charm.
Singles “Kiss Me Slowly” and “She Is Love” seemed to be hits with the audience, and with multi-talented members such as French, who plays saxophone, keyboard and various percussion instruments, Parachute didn’t fail to impress with their raw talent.
The set was complete with opening acts Sick of the Day, a local four-man band that brought with them a set of loud and proud fans, and Katelyn Tarver, the high energy (and high-ponytailed) pop act.
Though I’m sure the crowd would have been satisfied with a mere, stripped down performance, both Parachute and The Cab provided much more than that – all the way through post-show meet-and-greets. Though the bands may be different, together they made quite the dynamic duo. Needless to say, I (and the large majority of the audience, it seems) was greatly impressed.
