They kicked off the show with a bang and played to a slightly smaller but more expressive crowd than that of the bands preceding them. I walked the venue a bit to get a feel for the crowd at this point. I wanted to know what the general consensus on TTF was first, from the kids who spent their parent's hard earned money to see the show. Now, I've never been a brash journalist but I can only give you the truth. What I saw was half of this show's turn-out exiting the venue for the night. What was left of the kids who showed up were either showing love for TTF and getting into their live set or they were swarming Four Letter Lie's merch booth like flies on shit. Which, by the way, is not to say that FLL is shit although the comparison has been made by many-a-overly judgmental MPLS, better-than-you, scenester. The point is, the majority of the crowd in general wasn't into Throw The Fight or their sound. There was one guy though, who was really into the TTF set. He had been working a few beers earlier in the evening, one would swear he was at his first show ever. He seemed to be enjoying himself, during the time in hell I spent near him, he made sure I knew it with "OMG THESE GUYS ARE AWESOME, THIS IS THE BEST BAND EVERRRR!!!" Screaming…in my ear…with beer-breath…every five fucking minuets. Safe to say I would have enjoyed myself a lot more had this particular gentleman, who probably knew I would be writing up this review, not been present.
Eventually I made my way to the front and center of the crowd. I stood there for merely one song before everything started going to hell. I went on to assume that I was witnessing what was probably Throw The Fight's worst show ever. They obviously haven't gotten in with Lady Luck yet since it was also probably the only show they had any form of press coverage for. Needless to say they get credit for sticking it out and not calling it a night. It definitely takes guts to stand up there while you have every one of the guitars available to you break and have to face a, by this point, jaded crowd. It took some balls from lead singer, Brandon, to give up his guitar to his band mate and push awkwardly through one of their songs without his normal gear. Witnessing that was similar to something one would see if you took a drummer away from his set, placed him in the front of the stage and then expected him to rock out and sing his little panties off. Yeah. Slightly awkward indeed, however, no less entertaining. He didn't take advantage of that moment though and failed to do what needed to be done to save the whole fucking night; start some good old audience participation. You're standing there with nothing but a mic, get into the fucking crowd! What is he waiting for, I kept thinking, you could tell he was probably nervous and he definitely held back. In the transition from punk to mainstream tainted pop-punk music, it's a given that a lot of what punk fans held sacred was in some ways lost. One of the most enjoyable factors of punk music lost in TTF and countless other big and small similar acts alike is this: indifference to judgment. Had Brandon not worried so much about the fact that he was playing one of his worst shows ever and just let loose and had a little more fun with it he could have saved the show. Luckily, a forgiving audience stood before them and they finished out the night with a few less technical difficulties and a couple more songs. Throw The Fight was able to walk out wounded but still standing with sighs of relief that the worst was finally over.
These guys, no matter how pitiful the impression given that night, have got potential. Playing more shows around the Twin Cities and building up a fan base is their first step to rising above and making a name for themselves. Just a little more maturing on the songwriting end wouldn't hurt either. They have great voices and musicianship and I'm sure they've got some talent lurking about them too. On a side note to TTF, it would be wise to book bands with more similarity to your own band's type of music. That is.. if, at future shows, you would like to keep the large crowd volume going once you hit the stage. But hey, at least you split the profits, right?