Images: Finch, Last Call, Burning Agrestic, Reverend Crow May 18, 2013 at Hard Rock Live

Admittedly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Finch’s What It Is To Burn 10-year anniversary show at the Hard Rock Live (the new name for the Hard Rock Café on the Strip’s third floor music venue). Finch broke through in a huge way with that album, coming at the peak of Drive-Thru Record’s pop punk dominance. Finch didn’t fall into that pop punk genre, but they definitely road the Drive-Thru wave to success, touring with label-mates like New Found Glory. But unlike NFG, Finch’s mainstream success was mostly limited to their debut album, and they retired from touring over 5 years ago. While New Found Glory’s influence can still be found today in bands like The Wonder Years and Fireworks, there are much less bands doing the sing/scream style that Finch was a part of. Would people still come out to see them?

Apparently my concerns were completely unfounded because the venue was packed with a varied crowd of old fans and younger kids who never got to see Finch the first time around. They exploded into cheers and violently-shouted singalongs at the moment they launched into WIITB. I was curious how they would sound live, having last toured in 2007, but the guys sounded great and Barcalow’s voice has aged really well. Screaming can be tough on the vocal cords but he’s still up there with the best of them.

It’s been a number of years since I’ve listened to the record but hearing “New Beginnings” brought me right back to my college years and I had to hold back on singing along so I could focus on photographs. “Letters to You,” was the band’s big single and got a huge response from the crowd. “Stay with Me” is my personal favorite Finch song, and I don’t remember ever having seen them play it live, even in the early days of the album’s touring cycle. So I was getting anxious with excitement when they finished up “Without You Here” and the notes began. The audience joined in nicely with the loud choir of “whoas” that fill the song’s chorus and bridge.

During Finch’s initial run, I always came away with the impression that they quickly grew tired of playing these songs. At a lot of the later shows I saw, they came off as bored and antagonistic, especially when asked to play poppier tracks like the aforementioned “Letters to You.” So I was excited to see that the guys all had huge smiles and seemed genuinely excited to be up on stage.

Unlike most anniversary shows I’ve been too, Finch stuck strictly to the album in question. No b-sides, deep cuts or tracks from their follow up Say Hello to Sunshine. So that meant the last song of the night was the album’s title track. I would have enjoyed hearing “Worms of the Earth” from the Underworld soundtrack or “Waiting” from the band’s debut EP Falling Into Place but seeing as this night was all about celebrating What It Is To Burn, it wouldn’t feel right to end on anything else. Barcalow made it clear that his new band Reverend Crow is his main focus going forward and I can respect that, so it was nice to get to see Finch perform at least one more time.

Speaking of Reverend Crow, they opened the night, with Barcalow on guitar and vocals. They have a much jammier, rock-influenced feel compared to Finch’s Far- and Glassjaw-influenced post hardcore, and while the music wasn’t entirely in my wheelhouse, they put on a great show and I’m curious to see how the new project continues to grow.

Just off a tour with Forever Came Calling and Heart to Heart, Last Call opened with the instrumental “Limbo,” transitioning perfectly into “Braid.” The band stuck mostly to tracks from last year’s excellent Dog Years LP, with a few older songs like “Disconnected” making the cut. There isn’t much crossover appeal between Last Call and Finch, so most attendees seemed content to quietly bob their heads during their set, but I’m sure they made some new fans with the extremely catchy “Bones” and set closer “Glassell St.,” both of which utilize the dual vocals of frontman Austin Jeffers and drummer Adam Blasco to great effect.

I’d only seen bits and pieces of Burning Agrestic sets before and was excited to see a full show from them. Vocalist Brian Cantrell puts a lot into his performance, manically stirring about the stage while the rest of the band shreds and wails. I like that they seem to draw influence from a wide spectrum of punk rock, sometimes reminding me of Strung Out, other times of Bayside.

-Emily Matview | https://www.flickr.com/photos/holdfastnow/