It's been over a year since Bayside's most recent album The Walking Wounded was released. In fact, I still remember reviewing it. However, besides a short performance at Warped Tour, Bayside had yet to stop by Kansas City since the new album was released. So, needless to say, they allowed a nice amount of time to build up an audience before officially gracing the stage at The Beaumont.

The venue was only about half full, which is sometimes the risk that touring artists take with mid-week shows. However the fans that were there were true at heart. I knew Bayside had a following, but I didn't realized how far it stretched. In the days leading up to the show, whenever I would mention that I was going to see Bayside, I received the common reaction of "those guys are awesome, I love Bayside." When did this happen? The buzz of their release had long since died down, but apparently it hit a lot more stereos than I had expected. The audience that night consisted of roughly 85-90% male, which you'd think I would be used to. This time it was a little more apparent. And all those guys were having a good time.

The set for the evening was well rounded. Songs were heard from Sirens And Condolences, Bayside and The Walking Wounded, naturally focusing more on the latter. They were relentless through the set, blowing out one song after the other, in turn keeping the energy level at a maximum. If you know anything about Bayside, you know that they are a band that openly doesn't give a crap about what people say about them. In fact it's been known that Anthony (lead vocals) will rebut an unjust review on the band. That being said you can imagine the intensity at which they play their live shows. Their music is solid. They know what to do, they know that it works and they do it. Nowadays bands will play to the audience a little bit more, in hopes of gaining more of a relationship that might help to keep them around longer. And perhaps I feed off of that as a member of the press. Well Bayside is not one of those bands. They've got an attitude all their own and it comes out quite apparent on stage. They were on and off, pure and simple. Leaving their fans rock-infested.

It was definitely a good show. And for the fans that may have only heard The Walking Wounded, they now have a reason to explore everything that Bayside has to offer. There's talk of a new album in 2008 and I hope that's true. But I also hope that the band does not wait another year AFTER the release to come back to KC. I have a gut feeling, that if they plan it right, they can sell out that exact same venue.

-Rachel Fredrickson

Bayside
w/ The Starting Line
March 27, 2008
The Beaumont Club
Kansas City, MO

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