Thomas Delonge, AVA

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Angels and Airwaves

with Say Anything

May 14, 2010
Pompano Beach Amphitheatre
Pompano Beach, FL

Review by Steve Vaynshtok
Photos by Ashleigh Ahern

Say Anything; the words make me fuzzy and warm enough on the inside to melt the polar icecaps. Every time they come anywhere near South Florida, I find myself jumping at the chance to see their magnificent live show. This time was no different. They generally play with really great bands, but tonight for some reason they were the openers for space rock band, Angels and Airwaves! Imagine that. Tom Delonge, the very same man who broke Blink-182 apart, was the man who handpicked Say Anything to open for his band.

As soon as I arrived at the venue, I was already expecting a killer performance from the one-and-only Max Bemis and his crew of gangly young Jewish boys. The show started off perfectly with the song “Hate Everyone” off their self-titled album. The band introduced themselves after the song was finished, saying, “We’re a little band called Say Anything, from Los Angeles California.” Bemis ignored cries of “We Love You Max!” from the crowd as he continued his set. The band segued into “Do Better,” and the crowd erupted with gleeful cheers and applause as the band all left and only Bemis and Coby Linder (drums) remained on stage. The song built up until Parker Case (keyboards) and Alex Kent (bass) came back out to add to the rhythm of the drums. Finally the Turner brothers emerged and lunged into some awesome guitar lines to finish off the song as Bemis sang the words “We could do better, we could do better, we could be the greatest band in the world!”

Jeff Turner, SA

After that, the band took another break to address the crowd. Bemis exclaimed hilariously about the mosquitoes in the amphitheater: “I guess now we know that mosquitoes are actually attracted to Jews.” The band finally succumbed to playing an older song called "Shiksa (Girlfriend)” off their In Defense of the Genre album. The band varied the style of songs they played, except for the fact that they were almost all from the new record. Say Anything closed their set with the typical “Alive With The Glory of Love” off their ...Is a Real Boy album.

As the anxiety grew stronger and the night grew darker, Tom Delonge came on stage wearing his Es 335. (Delonge’s signature guitar was ridiculous.) The crowd met him with cheers, and Angels and Airwaves opened up their set with “Hallucinations” off their 2010 album, Love.

Thomas Delonge, AVA

As the anxiety grew stronger and the night grew darker, Tom Delonge came on stage wearing his Es 335. (Delonge’s signature guitar was ridiculous.) The crowd met him with cheers, and Angels and Airwaves opened up their set with “Hallucinations” off their 2010 album, Love, which is available for free digital download on their website. They moved into “Young London” off the same record after introducing themselves and garnering a round of applause for openers Say Anything. Delonge said, “I’ve been a fan of them forever, and it’s so great to have them on tour with us. They’re such cool guys.” With that Delonge moved on to the rest of the set.

David Kennedy, AVA

There isn’t really much to be said about Angels and Airwaves' performance. It’s about as typical as a band can get, with songs that sound like every other "trying-to-be-deep" band out there, but unfortunately they trip and land into the shallow end just above Fall Out Boy. Angels and Airwaves ultimately disappointed me, but their fans were die-hard. The crowd loved them more than anything I’ve ever seen, and it speaks volumes for a band to have such a dedicated fan base. They ended their set with “The Adventure” off their first album We Don’t Need to Whisper, and I hung my head as I left the venue. I was extremely happy to be done with Angels and Airwaves and their set, but beaming with excitement and anticipation for the next time I’d get to see Say Anything again.

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