Forever the Sickest Kids (The Sassy Back tour with Cobra Starship, Hit the Lights and Sing it Loud)

October 18, 2008
Ok, so this venue, which up until this point I have not yet has the chance to see a show at is not the kinda place a girl goes by herself - hence why I went with a couple of The Makeshift Gentlemen, Louis Brown and Joe Swigunski.  "Pop's" across the river from St. Louis and technically in Sauget, IL is literally between two neon strip clubs.

We made our way into the venue, which looks much like a metal barn.  But the place is actually really well suited to show, the state is roomy (several full drum kits, guitar stands, etc. fit comfortably along with the performing act and their equipment.)  However, drinking became much less desirable when we questioned the bartender on prices.  Anyway, bottled water in hand we made our way towards to stage.  We were just in tome to see Forever the Sickest Kids.  Perfect.

Ironically, as we were elbowing our way through the sea of mainly 13-year-olds and their parents, one of these kids yells right into my ear:  

"POSER!"

It kinda funny because the only thing that might have made me stand out from the crowd may have been my age.  I was wearing the required "uniform", black chucks slightly dirty (like they have been in a couple mosh pits, which actually happened at The Used show in July - a fat guy came out of nowhere and stomped on my foot and I wasn't sure if it was broken or not for awhile), black skinny jeans and slightly teased hair.

So, by this time FTSK is about to hit the stage.  Now I had never seen them live before this show so I was kinda wondering how they were going to sound live.  For those of you not familiar, FTSK has 6 members.  This is a lot of sound that has the potential to sound undefined.  Unfortunately, this proved to be true that night probably due to the fact that their sound was most likely from a secondary sound system.  Or they could have had someone mixing their sound that didn't know exactly what they were doing.  For me it was not a deal-breaker, but it was a show that I walked away with severely buzzing ears from.  

Despite any sound issues, FTSK put on a real show.  They broke onto the stage bringing with them a sense of youthful excitement, which mirrored the feeling of the crowd well.  You could have literally put any member on stage by himself with whatever he plays and you would have a show.  FTSK engaged the fans with ferocious intensity.  They held the kids in the palm of their hands, the kids responded to any request by FTSK to clap, jump, mosh or just go crazy.

One of the ways FTSK did was was with a rhinestone encrusted mic stand with "FTSK" glittering down the front (much like Steven Tylers scarved mic stands this has become a well known aspect to their shows).  The top of the stand was bendable enough to be sung towards the fans by Jonathan Cook during choruses.  This of course got the kids jumping and screaming the lyrics off both of their albums, the newest, "Underdog Alma Matter" and "Television Off, Party On".  

FSTK is Jonathan Cook (vocals), Caleb Turman (Guitar, vocals), Marc Stewart (guitar), Austin Bello (bass), Kent Garrison (keyboards), Kyle Burns (drums).

note: this photo was taken from FTSK's myspace page.