Cobra Starship

Emo's - Austin, TX 

February 22, 2008

It’s a Friday night, and Austin’s favorite hole in the wall, Emo’s, is partially packed. Everywhere you look, there is a slew of color, although the name of the venue goes against everything they stand for, the scene kids are definitely out tonight. Who are they out to see? Why, the leading stars of their pre-pubescent wet dreams, of course: Cobra Starship.

The show got started pretty quickly, and from my spot in my post-puberty safe haven, the back row, I got a great view of the first act. The Cab, compiled of members Alex DeLeon, Cash Colligan, Alex Johnson, Ian Crawford, and Alex Marshall, got the energy going pretty well. Even I had to tap my feet and nod my head along to a few of their songs. They played their Myspace hit song, I’ll Run, proving that they didn’t have to win over this crowd; they had them before they even hit the stage.  What stuck out the most in my mind was their choice to quiet things down and play a cover of, one hit wonder, Edwin McCain’s I’ll Be, which Deleon pulled off wonderfully. When the song ended, I expected to see Days of the week and Hello Kitty panties cover the stage like a blanket of snow. Honestly, by the time they finished the entire set, I was wishing I was there to see them and no other bands. Hopefully after the April 29th release of their debut CD Whisper Songs, yeah, I liked them enough to give them a shameless plug; get over it, they’ll make another trip down south for one of their newest fans.

The second act was We The Kings, a pop-punk quartet from Florida featuring members, Travis Clark, the brothers Hunter and Drew Thomsen, and Danny Duncan. When they came out on stage, I felt like a mom from the 1950’s because my first thought was “why don’t these boys cut their hair?” Maybe they have a Samson complex and garner their strength from the tangled locks, whatever the reason, for newcomers to the music scene they played like old pros.  Playing their hits Secret Valentine and Check Yes Juliet, featured on Itunes free single list recently, and probably their most recognizable song This is Our Town, there wasn’t a person that wasn’t dancing or singing along for their entire set. Which reminds me... now is a good time to stop and personally thank We the Kings for encouraging all the kids in the crowd to jump, thrash, and shake as much as they could, my life wouldn’t have been completed without the slightly pedophilic lap dance I received from two junior high kids…thanks.

By the time third act Metro Station came on, the entire place smelled like teen angst in a locker room, but oh wait, very few of the kids in attendance play sports, but they sure could dance. Metro Station is the kind of band that reminds me of the Eminen song “Just Lose It”, because “they will make you dance, it is your chance, Yeah boy shake that ass”.  For the next 60 minutes I was taken into the techni-colored world of scene, and surprisingly, I didn’t hate it. Although, their songs did kind of blend together and I couldn’t tell where one began and the other ended, my trip was very enjoyable and I hope to go back one day, not any day soon, but some day.

Finally, headliners, Cobra Starship took the stage, and I will voluntarily admit, I lost my shit at the mere sound of the opening beat to their second single The City is At War.  Lights were going off and the kids surrounding me in my new location were so much better, there was nothing that could’ve made the show better, and then they played all of their hit songs, including my favorite Every Diamond Has It’s Shine, even the obscure ones that only true fans would knew. Cobra Starship knew exactly what they were doing and in Julius Caesar-like fashion, they came, they saw, and they definitely conquered Austin that night.

Despite being hard to take at times and my friend and I both eating a pound of some girls hair that refused to observe the number three girl rule of concerts, ALWAYS carry a hair tie net for yourself but for those around you, overall the show was everything it claims to be, four hours of the best rock/power pop dance party one could ever hope to attend. I was most impressed by the audience, how they danced for the entire show which was filled with songs and beats that would make even the most rigid person bust out into the Kevin Bacon "Footloose" jive.