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Dashboard Confessional
| December 13th, 2009 @ The Ottobar |
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by Courtney Campbell
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It might have been 20-something degrees outside in Baltimore, but at the Ottobar that night, it was a packed house and it was steaming hot! Onstage was Dashboard Confessional, who after cancelling their major headlining tour, set out on a 13-date acoustic tour with New Found Glory. Of course, considering that Dashboard can easily pack and sell out much larger venues, the Ottobar sold out immediately, which left many fans literally out in the cold. For Dashboard's frontman, Chris Carrabba, these shows bring him full circle. He began as a solo artist and no matter how you look at it, Dashboard Confessional is Chris Carrabba.
A Dashboard Confessional show is definitely an experience to be had. Whether it's a fully plugged-in show or an acoustic one, this is a show that is full of crowd participation. Having seen Dashboard in sold out arenas where the crowd sang over him, it was great to be in a smaller venue where the crowd complimented Chris' voice instead of drowning it out. I was also very happy that those around me could actually sing on key. Nothing worse than having someone next to you screaming out lyrics and being off key!
The set encompassed the career of Dashboard. Even though their current CD was released last month, only a small fraction of the 20 songs performed came from that CD. There were songs from all of Dashboard's CDs included as well as a cover of Ingrid Michaelson's "Breakable" and Weezer's "El Scorcho". The set also gave Dashboard's guitarist John Lefler, who accompanied Chris on this tour, a chance to perform one of his songs, "Up My Sleeve", from his own CD that was released over the summer.
There is a connection that occurs at a Dashboard concert; a connection between audience members and a connection between performer and audience. It's not something that occurs at all concerts and not all frontmen are able to pull this off either. Chris Carrabba is one of those that can. His music ignites, surrounds, and penetrates your soul. Sure stick this in the Emo category. This is the artist that all of those others try to emulate but fall short.
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