On October 19th, 2016, Buffalo was the fan choice for the New York stop for The Summer Set on their Made For You Tour. This five-some comes out of Phoenix, AZ and has been described as a multi facited band that spans the musical genres of alternative, emo, pop punk and even a little country at times; giving fans a never ending experience with the directions they take as artists. The venue for the evening was The Waiting room, a modern club that hosts live bands, dancing and karaoke. This Buffalo hideaway has been the location of many of alternative rocks best including Cute Is What We Aim For, Every Time I Die, Punchline and For Today. The clubs’ atmosphere was cozy, with couches that lined the wall and a spacious open plan that was cleverly broken up by the support beams scattered around. The staff were friendly and just as excited for the show as the patrons getting their tickets scanned, you could feel the electricity in the room building as more people filled the building.
This tour involved three acts that are individually taking the music scene by storm within the past year with their recent album releases. The first of the evening was Hudson Thames, a new comer into the music scene out of sunny LA. Following Hudson was William Beckett, a former and founding member of an old school favorite The Academy Is, who opened his set with a tribute to Slim Shady by playfully remixing the classic My Name Is to include his own name, just in case we forgot who was playing for us that evening. When The Summer Set were finally set to take the stage, and I took my place in the pit, the crowds nervous energy was fully tangible. One thing I found innovative about this venue, is that the placement of the photo pit is located to the right side if the club allowing for the photographers to capture lighting moments that are capable of giving the band members a colorful glow instead of the traditional “halo” effect you can find when the pit is right at the foot of the stage.
The Summer Sets’ set list included songs from their new album, Tales from Monday including “Figure Me Out”, “Jean Jacket” “Wasted” but also old favorites from their previous albums Legendary and Everything’s Fine including melodies like ”The Boys You Do”, “Boomerang” “Chelsea” and “Jukebox (Life goes On)”. One of the biggest pushes of The Summer Set becoming the stars they are today in the main stream music world, was winning the 2013 Macy’s iHeartRadio Rising Star competition, which allowed them to share the stage at that years awards with Sheryl Crow and The Backstreet Boys as well as a feature performance spot in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
I’ve had the pleasure of seeing this band strut their stuff on the stage twice before and to say this was one of the best experiences I’ve had as far as their showman ship goes is an understatement. The club was slightly more intimate than other venues they’ve been at and that made all the difference. This band is something to see as far as showman ship goes, the venue had a great vibe that allowed everyone to be wild and free enough to throw their “Hearts in the air” by the time the encore came around for the pop driven “Lightening In a Bottle”. If you live in Western New York, or even as far as Toronto, The Waiting room is a great place to see bands. But wherever you are the tour officially ends November 2nd, and the artists that make the marquee are definitely ones you need to add to your list of future shows.
