The Fray

On the first of hopefully many fun summer nights of 2009 my friends and I decided to go to a concert and The Fray just seemed like the perfect band to kick off the season.

Our venue was the Nokia Jones Beach Theatre literally seconds away from the sand and surf and the perfect setting to start up the 09 concert series. Once inside the venue the sounds of opening act Richard Swift, not to be confused with the much more talentedand younger Taylor seemed to provide an atmosphere for the eager crowd much the way elevator music would.

After his alloted time was up and the crowd was starting to pick up on density Jack's Mannequin the second opening band appeared on stage. I had seen them prior to this concert at the Van's Warped tour in 07 and I guess that made them seem far more subdued than nomal. With their piano ballads talking about the importance of staying afloat (metaphorically speaking) and loving a girl that doesn't quite love you back the band just seemed to wanted the audience to not boo them off the stage, and that wish came true there was no one audience member that could have honestly said they were in awe of their performance.

Finally when The Fray finally entered the stage with their simple looking set the stadium was brimming with excitement and after their first rendition of the Grammy nominated song "Over my head" the audience reached what seemed like pure bliss. After a couple of songs were performed the band addressed New York and proceeded to tell the story behind "How to Save a Life" followed by a chilling performance that's energy could not possibly have been captured by and single or record.

Throughout this whole show the settingbthat had once looked like a simple set of screens seemlessly transformed into a dramatic backdrop of fun lights, interesting camera angles as well as projectors, that were interesting to look at as well as asthetically pleasing even from all the way backnin the nosebleed section where I was sitting.

After the band left the stage for what appeared to be a quick rest before the encore the stage crew cleared off some of the bands props and the guitarist entered the stage and performed a song all by himself that was in a word cute. Followed then by his fellow bandmates The Fray began to sing a classy version of Kanye West's "Heartless" that will surely go down as one if the best songs of the night. Finally to conclude that nights festivities the band finished with "You Found Me" and made the night well worth $39.99 spent.

In general The Fray delivered a wonderful live performance that reminds everybody of how wonderful live music can be without the aide of editting and prosessing.