On Friday night, as the Straylight Run / The Color Fred tour (a.k.a. The Former Taking Back Sunday Frontmen Move On Tour) wrapped up at the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza, there was this enjoyable exchange.
FAN: Universal sucks!
JOHN NOLAN: Universal does suck!
FAN: I hate Universal!
NOLAN: I hate Universal too!
And so the Long Beach band's unceremonious dropping from its major-label deal with Universal was announced to the hometown crowd. Bassist Shaun Cooper announced it last week in a post on the band's message board, saying, "We did everything in our power to avoid the horrible situation we were put into, but I guess that wasn't enough. I guess the label is kind of in shambles. I mean, if you feel like the man that brought you The Killers and Fall Out Boy is expendable; what the hell are we?"
In the end, the move really wasn't a surprise. The band's album, "The Needles, The Space" is a pretty bold experiment that would've been hailed as an indie record, but was never a high priority over at Universal because it would simply never go multi-platinum. It was a weird match from the start, though Straylight did get the chance to make the album they wanted to make, glockenspiels and all.
And as their concert Friday night showed, the band and its ambitious sound only continue to improve. Cooper said the band is working on new material already and it has already lined up a tour with Bayside starting in January.
SETLIST: Soon We'll Be Living in the Future / The Miracle That Never Came / Hands in the Sky / The First of the Century / Who Will Save Us Now? / A Slow Descent / The Words We Say / How Do I Fix My Head? / Sympathy for the Martyr / Mistakes We Knew We Were Making / Still Alone / Take It to Manhattan / Existentialism on Prom Night // ENCORES: Your Name Here (Sunrise Highway) / Another Word For Desperate / Tool Sheds and Hot Tubs / Dignity and Money.
PHOTO: Straylight Run for Universal.