The "Full Album Show" trend

Last Friday, I and over 1,000 other people had the pleasure of being in Irving Plaza to see Motion City Soundtrack perform their first two albums, "I am the Movie" and "Commit this to Memory", back-to-back. The next night, I returned to see their two latest albums, "Even if it Kills Me" and "My Dinosaur Life". It was a unique experience that the band decided to bestow upon their fan base in 7 different cities. The difficulty of learning and remembering over 50 songs to be played over two nights is something that the band enjoyed with a wild enthusiasm that showed on stage in their live performance, which was spot on. Even if the occasional lyric was forgotten here and there, their devoted fans were there to pick them up.

The "full album show" has become a trend over the past few years in the music scene, and let me go on record of showing my full support and appreciation for them. It gained steam as more of a "10 year anniversary" deal. My first full album show was New Found Glory performing their stellar self-titled album back in 2010 with Saves the Day and Hellogoodbye. A year earlier, emo rock legends The Get Up Kids and Jimmy Eat World performed their beloved album "Something to Write Home About" and "Clarity", respectively in New York and various other cities in order to honor what many fans consider the work that got them recognized and built their fan base.

As an avid music fan, I love the idea of an "album". I'm not a fan of individual tracks, and for me to truly devote myself to a band, they have to be able to write a stellar album that has a narrative and a feel that keeps me listening from the first track to the last. Albums like "American Idiot" hits me harder than Green Day's other works because of the story it tells. I've always appreciated Say Anything and their ability to write solid albums from front to back. A great opening and closing track is vital for the album to hold its own weight. So if a band has an album that shows all the signs of a great CD, it's even more fun seeing the band perform it live.

If you've ever attended a full album show, you know the atmosphere is unreal. The audience knows what they've come to see and they come prepared to sing every verse and mosh or crowd surf at the appropriate moments. There's no surprises, but there are often interesting tidbits and stories the band provides to take the listening public back to the time they were writing the album. The dynamic of fans who've been with the band since the beginning who were there when the album came out and newer fans who may have just heard the album for the first time a few weeks back is a fascinating one to observe, but in the end the fans love the music just the same.

In the recent months, many bands have tried out a new trend: playing all their albums over the course of several nights. Along with Motion City Soundtrack, punk legends The Bouncing Souls recently took it upon themselves to play all eight of their CDs over a four night span at Highline Ballroom in NYC, among other cities. Lead singer Greg Attonito wore a special tie which bore the number "one, two, three, four" on the specific night that the number corresponded to. Indie folk band The Weakerthans will perform the feat of playing their four albums over four nights at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC.

Perhaps the only downside to attending the full album show is the lack of spontaneity and surprise. One of the fun aspects of a show is the setlist and seeing which songs are played at which points in the set. The roar of the crowd when a classic song comes up unexpectedly is always a high point of the experience of a show. But if you love the album enough, the lack of surprise is something that can be overlooked.

There is nothing gimmicky about a band taking the time to perform one or all of their albums over the course of one or several nights. It is merely a way of connecting to an old part of them and even giving people the chance to track their progression which seeing why they love their favorite bands so much. It can take the audience back to the time they first heard the album and awaken feelings in each person that they had when they first discovered their favorite band. It is truly a special moment shared between musician and fan.

I never though I'd hear the Motion City Soundtrack songs "Boombox Generation", "Hangman" or "Antonia" live. After these past 2 shows I can marvel at the fact that such deep cuts off their albums were performed in front of me. I can now say I've heard one of my top 20 favorite albums of all time (Commit This to Memory) performed in its entirety, and I will forever love Motion City Soundtrack for doing it. Hopefully this is a trend that more bands take advantage of, as it gives their fans a rare treat that they will surely remember for a long, long time.