Music with an Alternative Ending: REVIEW: Hey Monday's Headlining Tour

The Hey Monday and Cartel tour was the last concert I attended. It was an overall great show. The concert took place at the Altar Bar located in Pittsburgh’s famous strip district. It was the first time I was at the venue and was really impressed with the design and layout. The Altar Bar used to be a church. The stain glass windows giveaway it’s previous life. The venue has two floors and during concerts the upstairs is used for the 21 and over crowd so they are able to drink. This is where I stood for the show. My friend and I were in the center so we had a pretty good view of the stage.

The tour consisted of five bands. One of the original bands on the tour could not attend the date so a local Pittsburgh band took the place. The I-Drive is a four-man band. They have a more of an emo sound to them but sometimes it was hard to understand the lyrics. Also, they didn’t seem to have that much personality on stage.

The next band was We Are The In Crowd. They are pop-punk group from Poughkeepsie, NY. Taylor and Jordan trade off on vocals making a unique blend of male and female voices. The songs they performed were very catchy and upbeat. The band was interacting with crowd but I felt like they were jumping all over the place on the stage.

After them, This Century performed. They also have great music and catchy lyrics. I really enjoyed their set. The song were upbeat but not over the top. They had a nice stage presence but could have interacted more with the crowd.

Then Cartel took the stage. They rocked it! They really got the crowd into the performance. Cartel played songs off all of their albums and yet again my favorite song didn’t get performed. Oh well! The one thing I felt that they could have done better was their level of energy. Will, the lead singer seemed to just be singer out to the crowd not really connecting with them. They could have just been having an off day too.

Last, but not least Hey Monday took to their spot in the lights. They mostly played songs off of their new EP, Beneath It All! Cassadee, the lead singer was really into the performance and she also had to be on her guard. In the tiny venue people were crowd surfing! I’ve never seen anyone do that in close quarters especially with no barricade. In one part of the song, Cassadee stopped because there were two people moshing and to her it looked like they were fighting. In the middle of the song she asked them to stop. She really cares for her fans! They wrapped the show with an encore performance. Hey Monday played a song they covered on Warped Tour, Jason Derulo’s “In My Head” and it was amazing! Overall, it was a great night of performances. After the show I was able to meet and chat with some of the members of the groups. Everyone was super nice! It was such a great experience.