When most people hear the words holiday concert, their mind immediately jumps to the idea of large orchestral groups playing holiday classics like Jingle bells, Sleigh Ride, Holy Night and so on. 91X’s Wrex the Halls is absolutely nothing like that. On December 12, 2014 Schitzophonics, Banks, Spoon, Billy Idol, Interpol, a surprise musical guest, Alt J, and Cage the Elephant took the stage at the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, California to deliver a show I will remember for years to come.
To start off the night the local high energy trio Schitzophonics took the stage. Generally speaking people don’t expect much from opening acts but this insane lively crew gave such a fantastic performance that I would almost go as far to call them my favorite act of the night. Lead singer and guitarist Pat Beers makes this group what it is, he is an utter berserker, it was immensely fun to watch him fling himself about the stage whilst howling into the microphone and ripping shrieking guitar solos. This was by no means a one man act though, drummer Lety Beers and bassist Tom Lord completed the group with high speed slap bass runs and intense heart pounding drum beats.
Banks was the second group to go on. Another trio except this one was considerably calmer. Very reminiscent of Lorde, they had interesting lights and soothing music. It was rather repetitive though and got boring after the third song. Good in its own way but I don’t think it really belongs at Wrex the Halls.
Spoon – I’m not a cult member. They were just alright. I’m not familiar with the music, and they were statues on stage. The music was okay, but the performance was boring. Even the light show was stagnant.
Billy Idol delivered just how you would have expected him to. He was very high energy and showy. Guitarist Steve Stevens was as flashy and incendiary as ever. The classics were fun and exciting, the new stuff was better then expected. An overall good performance.
Interpol came got on stage in full suits. I enjoyed their music, especially the singers unique tone. My only complaint is that they did not move around. They were nice to listen to but less than exciting to watch. I fell victim to the scenario of not knowing the music so as a repercussion I enjoyed it less then I should have.
During the Transition of Interpol to Alt J a Taylor acoustic guitar signed by Billy Idol was given away to the first person who could text “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” to 91X. To everyone’s surprise and even shock an audience member was invited on stage to play the prize guitar. This audience member was none other then Vance Joy. They spoke briefly before Vance played Riptide. Needless to say the crowed roared with approval.
One of the groups people came here and waited to see: Alt J. I have seen them live before only one another time, in fact exactly a year ago at last years Wrex the Halls. They have only improved, they had fantastic light effects, the music was as great as ever. This is one of the only groups that can stand still on stage and get away with it.
Cage the Elephant was the headliner, the band almost everyone came to see. They put on a fantastic performance, every song they played was a past hit of theirs. A flashy group with sparkly shirts and guitars, stage dives, and even some slower soft moments. These are class A examples of showmen. The way Matt Schultz spoke to the audience made you feel like you knew him personally. An extremely memorable performance, CTE reminded me who my favorite band is. As the music faded out, Schultz ripped off his shirt, dove into the crowd, and surfed all the way across the arena floor and up into the upper decks.
Get your tickets early next year – you won’t know what you could miss!
