The Story So Far / The Starting Line

The Aztec Theater is one of those rooms that makes a pop punk show feel bigger than it has any right to. The painted ceiling, the deep balcony, the way the whole place hums before the first chord lands. Tuesday night brought two bands who built their reputations on exactly this kind of room, and for the most part the crowd showed up ready to give them something to work with.

The Starting Line went first, opening with "Up and Go" and immediately setting an odd tone. Everything was in place. Kenny Vasoli sounded strong, the band locked in on the transitions, and the songs off Based on a True Story still land with a whole room shouting the words back. What never arrived was the part that makes a pop punk set feel like a release. The pacing stayed level, the banter felt rehearsed, and by the time they reached "Best of Me" the audience was carrying more of the energy than the stage was. It was a good set. It was not a memorable one.

The Story So Far followed and took the temperature down instead of up. This is a band whose records are built on tension, so a certain coolness on stage is fair, but there is a line between restraint and distance, and they spent most of the night on the wrong side of it. Parker Cannon stayed largely turned away from the room, offering little between songs and even less in the way of presence. The band behind him was razor sharp, and "Quicksand" and "Clairvoyant" sounded as good as they ever will in a room this size. Vocally, though, the intensity that makes those songs cut on record only surfaced in flashes, mostly in the final third when the crowd finally pushed the volume up on its own.

The production deserves credit. The Aztec's sound was clean and loud without being muddy, and the lighting kept things moody without going dark. Between sets, the room stayed full instead of thinning out, which says something about how much this bill meant to the people who bought tickets.

That is what makes the night a little frustrating to write about. Two bands, a great venue, a crowd that knew every word, and a ceiling neither act pushed against. The songs did the heavy lifting and the performance mostly stayed out of their way.

Three out of five. A solid night for the catalog, a quieter one than the room was asking for.