Images: The Ataris, Versus The World, TheCore., The Forget Me Nows March 1, 2014 at the Fremont Country Club

With the rise of music piracy and band exposure brought on by the internet in the early part of the millennium, musicians have had to spend more time on the road than ever before. This tour glut has resulted in bands having to come up with creative ways to draw a crowd, and so began the onslaught of anniversary tours. Here on Punks in Vegas, we’ve covered anniversary shows by everyone from Story of the Year and New Found Glory (twice!), to The Postal Service and Yellowcard. The latest band to give it a go are The Ataris, whose mainstream pop punk breakout So Long, Astoria came out over ten years ago. Born out of the same mid-90s pop punk scene that gave us Blink 182 and MXPX a few years earlier, by the time The Ataris hit Vegas on the original Astoria tour (which featured Juliana Theory, Further Seems Forever and Yellowcard as support), they’d garnered a big enough following to quickly sell out The Huntridge. This time around, ticket sales weren’t quite what they were ten years ago, but the promise of past hits like “In This Diary” and Don Henley cover “Boys of Summer” was enough to get the show moved from Backstage Bar and Billiards to the larger, adjacent Fremont Country Club.

Kicking of the show was local band The Forgot Me Nows. I’d never heard the four-piece before but figured any band named after a pharmaceutical from Arrested Development must have good taste. The t-shirt and tie besuited guys were definitely high on the tongue in cheek humor, with silly banter that included a spin on the classic “who’s on first” bit. Musically, they remind me of the kind of lighthearted pop punk you’d hear on Kung Fu during the label’s 90s heyday, which is a sound that I appreciate and have a lot of nostalgia for. If you like your pop punk with high doses of humor (think Devon Kay and the Solutions), these are your guys.

Next up were Vegas-based punk rockers TheCore., who every PIV reader should be familiar with at this point. This was quite possibly the best I’ve seen them play, with bassist Brian Addeo and co-frontman Brock Frabbiele perfectly playing off each other. Despite co-frontman Sal Giordano’s numerous shoelace malfunctions, his deep voiced growl sounded perfect while bellowing out my personal favorite “Scene Kid Sacrilege (Return of the Shirt).” The whole band looked like they were having a blast and showed a lot of respect to the other bands. I was especially happy to see so many Ataris fans rocking along to the guys, and I hope their newly-won fans come back and see them in the future.

The first touring band of the night is definitely no stranger to Vegas. According to frontman Mike Davenport during the band’s set, Vegas ranks right behind his home of Santa Barbara and Amsterdam as the best city in the world. Davenport, who was the Astoria-era bassist for The Ataris, started Versus the World as a side project, and the band has featured members of Lagwagon in their rank. The band earned major points in my book for coming out to the theme from the original Legend of Zelda, and they immediately won over the now-full venue with a brand of fast-paced punk that reminded me a lot of Strung Out and Lagwagon, with lots of shredding and rock star poses. The second half of their set had more of a post hardcore feel, and I really enjoyed their fun cover of The Get Up Kids’ “Holiday” (which, shamefully, not enough people sang along to). The band has a unique style – and they play it well. And while the crowd of Ataris fans weren’t exactly starting epic circle pits, they did seem to be bobbing their heads and smiling big.

Here’s the part where I must confess that I was never a huge Ataris fan. I went to the original Astoria tour for the openers, much like I did this time, but I do enjoy a lot of their songs including “San Dimas High School Football Rules” and “1*15*96” from , but I never really gave Astoria a fair shake when it came out. I was ready to have my mind swayed by the gleeful Ataris fans pushing their way up front for a shot to sing with frontman and band mainstay Kris Roe, but after a delay due to technical problems, I started to deflate again. It was nice seeing the crowd belt out with “Takeoffs and Landings” and “In This Diary,” and I’m sure for superfans, it was great to hear some of these songs live for the first time. I was actually surprised at how many of the songs Roe introduced as being played live for the first time on this tour, as I’d imagine the success of the album and the near constant touring Roe has done since would result in every deep cut having been mined by this point. Ultimately though, there was a lack of energy that left me feeling cold, especially in comparison to the excellent sets from the various openers. I seemed to be in the minority, however, as the crowd stood enthralled during all of Astoria and during Roe’s ensuing acoustic set.

Compared to past anniversary shows I’ve attended, this was unique in that it brought back together a lineup for a still-touring band that haven’t played together in many, many years. And with it being only the second day of the tour, I’m sure the band has a few more kinks to work out before everything can gel like it did all those years ago. If you’re an Astoria fan, then as billed, this set is going to be nostalgic and fun.

-Emily Matview