Friday, March 16, 2012

Allstar Weekend - Virgin Mobile Mod Club, Toronto - February 22nd, 2012




Published in Lithium Magazine

Photo by Elena Maystruk

allstarweekendrocks.com

Pop-rock band Allstar Weekend, who rose to fame on the Disney Channel, brought their All the Way tour to Toronto’s Virgin Mobile Mod Club on Wednesday, February 22.

The concert was billed as an all-ages show, and it truly was. Filled equally with young children, teenagers, and adults, the club was packed with adoring fans of all ages that danced, screamed, and sang in unison with the band to each song.

The show was scheduled to begin at 6:30pm, which was early for a weeknight, but the dedicated fans in the audience certainly didn’t mind dancing off the early dinner. The evening kicked off with three opening bands—The After Party, Before You Exit, and Hollywood Ending—who got the crowd warmed up for the evening’s main event. Hollywood Ending gave a notable performance, and the crowd knew all the words to their songs. The absence of bass player Chris Bourne, who had trouble crossing the border, didn’t dampen the crowd’s spirits, as he was ably replaced by Before You Exit’s Connor McDonough, pulling double duty on the night.

Allstar Weekend took the stage at 8:45pm, and the crowd went wild. They opened their hour-and-a-quarter long set with the title track from their 2011 release “All the Way,” and segued right into “Do it to Me.” In addition to their own hits, like “Hey Princess” and “Blame it on September,” Allstar Weekend also performed great covers of Chris Brown’s “Yeah 3x” and Train’s “Drops of Jupiter.” During “Sorry…” lead singer Zach Porter chose a selection of excited fans from the crowd to come on stage to dance to the song.

The band performed their newest single, “Wanna Dance with Somebody,” as a poignant Whitney Houston tribute. The show closed with “A Different Side of Me,” before the band returned for a three-song encore of “Teenage Hearts,” “Here with You,” and the finale “Not Your Birthday.”

The concert was fun, energetic, and highly entertaining. Allstar Weekend puts on an energetic and charismatic performance. They showed that their recent departure from former label Hollywood Records hasn’t dampened their spirits. Almost as notable as the band was the audience, and the band basked in the adoration of the crowd. The faithful fans who sang their hearts out were almost like a part of the band, nearly drowning out Porter’s vocals on several occasions.

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