So I happened to be in Chicago yesterday, and I was walking on Michigan Avenue when I heard a ton of noise coming from Millennium park. Good noise. Musical noise. Apparently there was a small show in the skating rink. Sounds good to me. I headed in, grabbed a drink and a seat, and watched the guys from The Fold jumping on stage like they were having the time of their lives. That’s what first got me interested. None of that stiff, angsty crouching, or flashy posing. They looked like they were up there jamming in someone’s garage, playing around and bantering with each other and joking with the audience.
Their sound was anything but garage. Looking to the old Chicago scene, I’d compare them to a punked up Plain White T’s, or the drastically underappreciated Lucky Boys Confusion. But that doesn’t really do them justice, because their sound was their own. A smooth pop punk with energetic melodies and playful lyrics. Their cover of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” was hysterical and humbly interjected with “I don’t know French,” and they even did a rendition of “Empire State of Mind” by Alicia Keys and Jay-Z. A song I hate passionately. And guess what? I loved it.
Not to mention their own stuff, songs that remind me of the days when the popular radio stations still played Green Day, Third Eye Blind, and Fall Out Boy. Good pop. The kind that sticks with you. The five dollar CD I bought instantly after the concert was a steal. Best part? The guys were hanging out signing whatever people would throw at them; not just taking stuff and handing it back with an aloof smile, but actually talking with their fans and taking an interest. That’s something I can never appreciate enough. Good music is well and fine, but it’s better when it’s played by good people. People who don’t forget their roots.
And guess what? They had lyrics about real things, like girlfriends and heartbreak and waiting for the future and just having the kind of fun that normal people have. Something I’ve been missing these days in a radio culture full of club stuff. Katy Perry and Kesha are fun to dance to, but Katy’s lost her voice in the last few years and Kesha’s songs are fun but very similar. For both of them, like so many others, it comes down to this: I don’t go out and get drunk and forget what I did all the time. So those songs don’t exactly touch me on an emotional level. The Fold? Now these are songs I could drive with my best friend to. Meet a new crush. Jam to in my pj’s when I’m alone in my apartment feeling down.
So kudos, guys. You have something special. Oh, and the CD is now on permanent rotation in my car.
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