Dashboard Confessional & Beck ...before the tour ended

By: Matt Gordon

        There's nothing like a good concert to kick off a long summer, so I was excited to hear that Beck and Dashboard Confessional were coming to Mizner Park on the 1st of June. I'd never been to Mizner Park before and I'd heard so much about Beck's superb live show that I wascounting down the days until June. Let's just say I was not disappointed.

        I got to Mizner right as Dashboard started playing and I had a lot of fun during their set. Their lead singer, Chris Carrabba, is from south Florida, so he put on a great concert for the home crowd. Their set was short, but they cranked through old, new and unreleased songs nonetheless. I was sorry to see them leave the stage, but I was eagerly anticipating Beck as well..

        There was a rather large time gap between the two bands, so I got a chance to look around the venue. It's amazing because it is a completely unique place to see a show. It is essentially a stage with a lawn in front of it and second-level seats on each side. There is no roof over the lawn, so there is no feeling of containment at all. It looks much more like a mall than somewhere you would see a show. I thought that this added to the overall experience of the concert because it allowed concert-goers to focus on the music itself without worrying about small but important things like if the air conditioning was going to break. Anyone who has ever been to local shows will know what I mean.

        The only thing more eclectic than Beck's music is the man himself. He came out with "Loser," his most well known song, and the dancing and grooving never stopped after that. The stage was full of not only the usual rock lightshow, but also huge monitors depicting seemingly random pictures. Beck was full of dance moves and trance beats, but he also had time for mellow tunes as well. Throughout all his songs, however, he never let the tempo die. He kept the audience desperate for more, and then he provided it. The most potent image that sticks out in my mind occurred when Beck was playing "Where It's At" near the end of his set. This is one of my favorite Beck songs and he had just donned a suit covered in flashing lights. The sensory overload was at the same time overwhelming and completely gratifying.

        Less than two weeks after the concert, Beck got hit with a piece of stage equipment and canceled the rest of his tour. I am so, so happy that I got to see him before this because he has an energy onstage that is unrivaled. If you'd like to pick up one of his albums, I would recommend 1999's Midnite Vultures. It has, in my opinion, some of the best beats in music, and it certainly represents some of Beck's finest work.

        All said and done, this concert was a fabulous way to kick off the summer. I hope you use the time off to enjoy some great live music and I look forward to Warped Tour and Lollapalooza. If you haven't heard about these concerts, check out the lineups. They are sure to be some of the hottest tickets of the year.