Dashboard Confessional Last Night at House of Blues Anaheim

Home icon Home»Concert Reviews»Dashboard Confessional Last Night at House of Blues Anaheim

Written by Melissa Garcia

Monday, 17 January 2011 23:39

The Disney night sky was still settling down from its nightly array of fireworks as the House of Blues crowd was getting riled up for a highly anticipated show that is ten years in the making. Since Dashboard Confessional's first coming out of their debut album, A Swiss Army Romance, they have caught the attention of those with a healing heart, the fear of a new love, and those who are enamored by Chris Carrabba's shouting break downs that always seem so utterly heartbreaking.

What Dashboard fan can deny those long lonely drives along a highway leading nowhere, screaming along with the track, "Vindicated?" I definitely can't. I'm no stranger to long strange looks from passengers in surrounding vehicles who, or what I can imagine they see as a girl screaming out in severe pain, but thats when I roll down the window for them to hear how especially satisfying it is to sing along with such a soulful verse. So It was to no jaw dropping surprise to me that the Anaheim fans were literally filling up house with the sound of the blues.

As Chris Carrabba entered the stage by himself, the girls found it useless to contain their swooning and the men themselves tried there damnedest not to. Straight to the point he strums out "Screaming Infidelities," leaving the last chorus for the crowd to sing by themselves, which was an easy task. What was an even easier task was to let the crowd sing every song on the set list in its entirety, which is what happened in this case. The ensemble of fans had the vocal might of Lakers fans at a championship game, the knowledge of each lyric, pitch and timing as though they composed the songs themselves, and the passion for the meaning of every verse like that of making love to a soul mate-Chris was just conducting the choir with his guitar. This kind of wholeness is hard to come by at shows, but intimacy was achieved when the show was put on acoustically.

Just the guitar and the crowd to see Chris through the show was enough, and by his modest smile I could tell he was taken back by the crowds overwhelming response to each song. As he thanked the crowd for singing so well, he admitted his disbelief for how quickly 10 years had passed, and great years at that. He paid homage to his debut album by filling half of the set with songs like "Living In Your Letters," "A Plain Morning," and "Swiss Army Romance." He squeezed as many songs as he could within the time limit he was given, promising no encore just a brimming set of old favorites.

Between a lightless stage in lieu switching guitars and spotlights shining on Carrabba, love was always shone by the crowd in swooping yells and cheers. He annotated a song off his new album and told the tale of an old girlfriend who was a long haul driver, and yes, she knew how to drive a double clutch. Forgive me for not catching the name of the song, as you can imagine the screams were almost deafening. He then moved on to explore the album The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most with "The Brilliant Dance," "Saints and Sailors," and an old high school favorite, "The Good Fight."

With his effortlessly casual attire of a light blue collared button up with the sleeves rolled up to expose his "sleeves" of artistic body art, he looked like a classic hipster. Taking a minute to plug his friend's music he asked if he could play for us a song called "Tall Green Grass" by fellow musician Cory Branan. He then shamelessly recommended everyone to download it for a dollar. The nice little folk tune was catchy and probably had those who started the befitting 'ho down' clap during the song, using their pocket change to buy it when they went home. He continued to revisit his past albums in chronological order and ended up on "Stolen," off the Dusk And Summer album. Not to be out done by any other song he has mastered in the modern rock charts, but by far his most recognized single "Hands Down" was his final song on this January night. He again left the crowd to sing the last verse not once, but three times a capella. With no more than a "Thank you," he left the stage and fans quickly filtered out of the venue...

A honest and breathtaking concert, intimate and true, with fan a base so enthusiastic they almost took over the show. All I have to say is bravo! And thank you Dashboard Confessional for an inspiring ten years that will have me ignoring awkward stares from my car until the end of time.