When 45 won the presidential race last year, the one thing that stood out to me was the fact that no matter what people may think of him, there will be some amazing protest art springing up from the whole experience. I expect to hear a grand resurgence of punk and protest songs. In the meantime, the stage has stepped up to be a catalyst of sorts for artists to voice their opinions on how disenfranchised they seem to be.
Monday night’s Dashboard Confession show at the House of Blues was no exception to that idea. A lot of that passion just spills out in no part to the generation at hand. As hokey of a term it is, Dashboard’s style is Emo, a subgroup of alternative and punk music. Chris Carrabba started the band as a solo side project to his band at the time, Further Seems Forever. The name of the band came from the song, "The Sharp Hint of New Tears" off the album, The Swiss Army Romance. The band, for the most part, stayed intact till 2015, when original guitarist and drummers left. It would be a hard argument to say this change was easy, but Carrabba has managed to push forward.
The show was the first time the band had been back to New Orleans since they played Voodoo back in 2008. The setlist focused on the band's early material, of which Chris stated he liked a whole lot more than the newer stuff. The set also included as two new tracks, one of which, “Heart Beat Here” Chris enlisted the help of the audience for background vocals, that might end up on their new album. Speaking of audience participation, that really is the theme to most emo shows. The audience sings along to almost every lyric and in turn becomes a member of the band. Both the band and the audience thrive off this interaction.
In this politically charged climate of uncertainty, emo music may have resurged as well. The roots are already laid down, so taking the charge will be easy for those bands that have managed to stay around. You can see more pictures here.
