Hello Gone Days - Dashboard Confessional and Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness
The Fillmore Auditorium hosted The Juliana Theory, Dashboard Confessional and Andrew McMahon & the Wilderness on August 29th. Thousands of grown-up emo kids came to relive their past–with kids and spouses in tow. Asics and all, the crowds of elder emo millennials showed that they still know how to have a good time, even if their PBRs have been replaced with blue Gatorade and everyone breathed a collective sigh of release when the last set ended encore and all just after 10 p.m.
The Fillmore Auditorium was nearing its capacity of 3,900 fans of Dashboard Confessional, Andrew McMahon, and his previous projects Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin. Denverites really did everything they could do to finally prove to Mom and Dad that it was seriously not a phase–that emo music and its accompanying culture might be much more enduring than any normie ever thought. Those early 2000’s emo kids are now parents themselves, and as Chris Carraba pointed out, they came with their eight year olds lofted on their shoulders, bright-eyed at their very first “rock show.” “You found your community now!” Carraba said enthusiastically during his set, addressing the “young people” in the crowd.
The crowds were calm but excitable as Juliana Theory opened with a thirty-or-so minute set after doors opened at 5:30 pm. Their set was followed by co-headliner Andrew McMahon & the Wilderness. McMahon brought genuine verve onstage, waxing poetic about how Denver holds a special place in his heart as one of his favorite cities to tour. He thanked the crowd for their years of support and dedication to his music, “made under a few different names.”
McMahon played recent hit “Cecilia and the Satellite,” while also dipping deep into the archives for crowd pleasers like “Woke Up in a Car” (Something Corporate) and “Dark Blue” (Jack’s Mannequin). McMahon played “Stars,” the last song before the encore, in a light-up rainbow cape. He floated over the crowd in a massive pool floaty in said cape, somehow without missing a beat or a breath. The bridge of the song goes “a world without color is a world without you.” “Stars” might be a protest song sending the message that has seemed to fall on deaf ears lately; McMahon, under an array of rainbow lights in his glowing cape, seemed to be communicating to his LGBTQ fans, “the world is a better place with you in it.” McMahon used his platform for good during the show, and it didn’t go unnoticed.
Chris Carraba and the rest of Dashboard Confessional took the stage soon after, and they brought the same gratitude and appreciation as McMahon. Despite having been on tour since late July, the band threw themselves at the set, giving it all they had. Bassist Scott Shoenbeck, running circles around Carraba, seemed to be having the most fun of anyone. “How far back should we go in our repertoire?” Carraba asked. “Three records back? Our first record?” The band delivered the scream-along crowd pleasers like “Saints and Sailors,” “The Brilliant Dance,” “Screaming Infidelities,” “Vindicated” and “Hands Down.”
Emo music has seen a resurgence in popularity of late. Looks like we grew up, grew out the haircut, and matured enough to admit that we still listen to Dashboard Confessional alone in our car every once in a blue moon. The catharsis of bands like Something Corporate and Dashboard Confessional is something lasting beyond the early years when it all felt new and revolutionary to admit that we all feel a little sad sometimes.
The emo community supports one another. August 29th’s show at the Fillmore showed that the bonds between grown-up emo kids are hard to break. For those short hours, strangers became something between family and friends. Dashboard Confessional and Andrew McMahon have touched a lot of lives in their twenty-something years of making music, and the connections that their fans formed to their music will keep it alive long past the days of a Toyota Corolla’s retrofitted six-disc spinner.
Words: Kendall Morris
Photo Credit: Kate Rose
