By Stephanie Robinson
Press photo by Salma Bustos
Picture it. The year is 2007. Bobby Bones is still in Austin. The Austin Music Hall is still a thing and has only recently been renovated. As I enter the venue, I hear the tail end of Boys Like Girls’ set: “The Great Escape.” Until Saturday, that was all I had ever seen of them.
(The Bobby Bones ticket says 2008 but I promise it was 2007. They also misspelled “anniversary” so who knows what was going on.)
I know, I know. It’s hard to believe. Ya know what’s even harder to believe? That until Saturday night, I had NEVER seen Dashboard Confessional. I’m a bad emo.
“The first time you heard about Dashboard was probably from Spider-Man 2. Oh further back? Some of you are real ones. Some of us heard about Dashboard from One Tree Hill. But some of us are like real, real ones that go all the way back. And they heard us on MySpace I guess.” – Chris Carrabba
Most of my memories before age 18 are pretty fuzzy to be honest, so I don’t remember the exact first moment that I heard them. I do remember watching the crap out of the “Hands Down” video on MMUSA, before it became Fuse. I still have a visceral feeling when I see the opening visuals.
Despite my hatred for the venue, the show that I saw was incredible. Dare I say, it was even worth the back pain and the knees that no longer worked when I tried to walk back to the car. I was actually completely surprised when Chris Carrabba came on stage. They had been playing “Mr. Brightside” over the speakers while I was sitting on the ground trying to alleviate some of the knee pain, and somehow Chris appeared with his guitar and started playing “The Best Deceptions” to no fanfare.
He was soon joined by the whole band, playing well-known anthems like “Don’t Wait” and “Stolen,” before which Chris recalled – “as I stand before you with my hair melting” – that at the last show at Stubbs, they came out to “Stolen” and it started to snow.
Mr. Carrabba was chock-full of stories, ranging from his daughter hearing “Carry This Picture” in the summer blockbuster “It Ends With Us” to writing “Watch The Fire” with tourmates Boys Like Girls. I actually wrote down many of his anecdotes because they were so funny, but we could be here all day.
Now that I’ve seen Dashboard live, I can’t imagine not seeing them again next time they roll through town. My only wish is that they play “So Impossible” for the general audience and not reserve it specifically for the VIPs. 🙂