On Saturday February 11th, a near 2,000 people filled the balcony seats and floor space of the Fox Theater in Pomona, in attendance of the Beautiful Things Tour. After a venue change from the music club across the street, the Glass House (which had sold out in a mere couple of days), more tickets were made available for purchase, with the Fox Theater having a much bigger capacity. To no surprise, the new venue was still packed tight. Even after many waited hours outside the Fox in the rain, a multitude fans stood and sat in eager anticipation of the night’s acts.
The night kicked off with the headlining act Anthony Green’s sister-in-law, Stephanie, performing three of her own personal songs, sitting on a lone chair and playing an acoustic guitar. Green asked the crowd to “show her as much respect as they would show any other act”, and they warmly obliged, applauding each one of Stephanie’s songs. After thanking her brother-in-law, Stephanie left the stage, and tech and crew began set up for the next act.
The first act on the lineup then took the stage; Isodora Crane, a 4-piece indie band, opened up with a long instrumental intro. The band went on to play a seven-song set, filled with many unique effects. The second to last song was “Incinerate”, which happens to be the band’s newest single. The last song, which the lead singer of Isodora Crane dedicated to Anthony Green, was “An Epic Space”, which ended their set tranquilly.
The second act was The Dear Hunter, (aka Casey Crescenzo, formerly of The Receiving End of Sirens), who opened his set with “Fall and Flee” off the White EP on the album the Color Spectrum. Crescenzo transitioned into the next song “The Church and The Dime”, off the album Act II: the Meaning, and All Things Regarding Ms. Leading, before performing the only song off his first full-length of the night; “His Hands Matched His Tongue”, off of Act I: The Lake South, the River North, in which he switched from his keyboards to his guitar, and performed the riffs himself, alongside his touring guitarists/keyboardists; Robert Parr on his right, and Connor Doyle on his left. He stayed with this instrument for the next song, “Things That Hide Away”, off the Green EP, and preceded to belt out an extremely soulful rendition of the song “Black Sandy Beaches”, off Act II, which had his voice echoing throughout the acoustics in the entire theater, vibrating in the bones of even the seated listeners in the balcony. Crescenzo returned to his keyboards for the song “Home”, off the White EP, and “Progress”, off the Indigo EP. During the song “Red Hands”, off Act II, Anthony Green came out to sing alongside Crescenzo and Doyle. The Dear Hunter ended the set with “Misplaced Devotion”, off the Yellow EP, with the entire crowd singing the last hymn in unison.
At about 9pm, headliner Anthony Green took the stage with his touring band Get Out War. He kicked off the night with two of his most well known songs off his first full-length album; “She Loves Me So” and “Babygirl”. Green then had the crowd begin to sing the first harmony of his song “If I Don’t Sing”, off his new album Beautiful Things, where he then took the lead. He went on to sing the bittersweet melody “Moon Song”, followed by “Drug Dealer”, and thanked Get Out War before performing the upbeat “Get Your’s While You Can”. The haunting “When I’m On Pills” followed, along with the popular “Stonehearted Man”. Green enthusiastically covered his own band, Circa Survive’s song “Get Out”, which had him jumping around the entire stage and making the crowd go wild. After all the commotion, the crowd got silent for Green’s lovely song dedicated to his son, “James’ Song”, which followed by another quiet anthem entitled “How It Goes”. Old favorites and a Deftones cover winded down the set, which ended with a perfect sing-along anthem off his newest album, called “Can’t Have It All At Once”.
After the crowd chanted for an encore, Green took the stage for a few more songs, starting off with a definite crowd-pleaser, and a shock to most; a well-known song from his days in Saosin, entitled “Seven Years”. With the entire crowd singing the song back to him word for word, Green soulfully conjured up chills and tears from his fans throughout the crowd, with every lyric. Next was another crowd favorite, called “Dear Child (I’ve Been Dying To Reach You)”, which again, had everyone singing along every word. The night ended perfectly, when Green had the crowd interact even more so than they already were (if it was even possible). He instructed one side of the theater to sing the lyric “we’re all in the same spot” when he pointed to them, and the other to sing “this feels like a nightmare”, when instructed, to participate in the last song, called “Devil’s Song”. It was the perfect ending to an amazing set, with the entire crowd singing different lyrics, yet perfectly in unison, as if everyone in the crowd, as well as Green, were one; the exact feeling of oneness most personal shows like these bring about, every time.
Green went on to state about the show, via Twitter and Facebook: “Last night at the fox was the biggest and by far the best show we have ever played. Thank you to everyone who came and sang along.”
A portion of the proceeds from tickets of all the shows on the Beautiful Things Tour go to the Keep A Breast Foundation, who sponsored the tour.