 "Photo: Photo courtesy of Google images")
Puffs of smoke sporadically rose like mushroom clouds while the faint smell of marijuana and cigarettes wafted through the air. On Sunday, April 26 at New Haven’s Toad’s Place, Fall of Troy took the stage.
The silver reflections of a mirror ball, mixed with the steamy combination of sweat and smoke already accumulating in the tiny venue, created laser-like effects to complement the background soundtrack that seemed to consist solely of Brand New, Say Anything and Taking Back Sunday singles. The somewhat-crowded, yet not-sold-out audience started to get restless, cheering every time someone walked across the stage, not knowing whether it was stage crew, a band member, or just a random nobody.
Opening act, Twin Atlantic, began their set almost a half an hour later than the planned 7 p.m. start time. Not realizing until a few moments into their set, I found that the band’s lyrics were sung with a strong Scottish brogue, bringing me back a year to my travels abroad, and coincidentally making it extremely difficult to decipher the majority of the lyrics. Regardless, the two girls behind me seemed to think that their accents were “cute,” and fawned over the boys’ appearances as well.
While the band from the musical Mecca of Glasgow, Scotland (here on their first American tour) seemed promising despite their slight lyrical miscommunication, I was more focused on the tween couple next to me who only took quick breaks in between making out to text each other heart and smiley face emoticons on their iPhones. The only exception was during the bands’ second to last song where they introduced, what I dubbed “cellocore,” an electric cello, impressively and overly-enthusiastically played by one of the band’s members.
Long Island’s Envy on the Coast took the stage next, but not before dread-locked lead singer Ryan Hunter joined the Scots to sing a lyrically crisp and amazing few lines of their last song. I was pleasantly surprised by Envy on the Coast’s performance due to the fact that I had previously heard that they were not great live. I must say that I disagree 100 percent, and that Hunter’s voice was near-perfect and hauntingly reminiscent of each of their studio-recorded tracks, even with the perfect harmony of “(x) Amount of Truth.” The band had just released their long-anticipated new album, “Lowcountry” on March 30, the first album since their debut release “Lucy Gray” in 2007. Not surprisingly seeing as they had been touring since the release of their debut album, the majority of the songs performed were from the new album, along with a “House of the Rising Sun” cover. It was then that the inevitable mosh pit opened up, and the night really started to begin.
Seattle-based Fall of Troy, fronted by Thomas Erak, announced earlier this year that after their spring tour they would stop working together. It just so happens that Toad’s Place ended up being the band’s final resting place.
Slightly fatigued, I headed to the back of the venue and took a seat on top of the bar in between sets. Realizing that the view from the back was a million times better from where I had been standing towards the stage, I ended up remaining there for Fall of Troy’s entire set while the bartender behind me somehow managed to read a book despite the vibrating floors and continuous spew of screaming and F-bombs from the band.
Coincidentally, I managed to wind up right next to Twin Atlantic lead singer Sam McTrusty’s parents who were excitedly cheering Fall of Troy on while downing plenty of beers during the brief intermission. Not to mention that from my new seat, I ended up rubbing elbows with McTrusty himself as well as (a shorter than imagined) EOTC’s Hunter who wandered over and ended up standing next to me where I accidentally kicked him while swinging my feet to the beat of “Whacko Jacko Steals the Elephant Man’s Bones.”
The night was certainly one to remember, especially for Fall of Troy fans. The band played their precisely strummed, yet chaotic guitar riffs until a little after 11:30 p.m. The band demonstrated their technical abilities to a tee, utilizing their creativity in their difficult and unique time signatures while stopping to chat with the audience every once in a while about sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll. They included their own rendition of a Smashing Pumpkins/Weezer collaboration, and drove the crowd wild, telling them that they wanted to see the largest pit that New Haven had ever seen. Of course, this led to disgruntled-looking security guards and at least one kid with a bloodied face that I spotted heading back to the pit after being snatched up after crowd surfing.
Senior media production major Mike Laramie, who attended the concert, said, “I thought The Fall of Troy were amazing, as they had been the three previous times I've seen them. Their set list was a great mix of old and newer songs and seemed to keep the crowd happy. The crowd was extremely energetic and from my perspective gave The Fall of Troy an enjoyable final show.”
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