Ani Chakiryan

On Wednesday, Feb. 17, the House of Blues opened its doors to The Dear and Departed, Cursive and, the band that everyone was there for, Alkaline Trio.

The doors opened at 6:30 p.m. Slowly but surely the venue fills up — not to the point where there’s nowhere to move or breathe, but it gets pretty packed.

The show is running on time, and exactly at 7:30 the projector screen lifts up and the first band of the night makes it appearance.

First up for the line-up of the night is The Dear and Departed, a new wave, rock band from Orange County, originally from England.

Standing up in the balcony, looking down into the “pit,” I get a clear view of what is going on in front of the stage; what people are doing, where they are standing, how they are reacting to the show and how big the crowd is.

The people that came to see The Dear and Departed is a pretty decent crowd. They were holding their drinks and rocking out to the show, some were sitting in the restaurant enjoying their food and taking advantage of the great view they have of the stage.

The band plays a few sets and then the lights dim. The projector screen slides back down and the stage crew prepares the set for the next band.

Not moving from my spot up in the balcony, I look down and see that as the clock grows closer to 8:30, and the crowd has grown larger.

The second band up is Cursive. Cursive is a post-hardcore, American indie rock band. If you don’t like screaming, bring earplugs. The band would be amazing if they didn’t sing. This band, however, was a bit more popular than the previous one.

People were singing along to the “songs” and jumping up and down, showing their enthusiasm and allegiance. I was standing there thinking, “My ears are bleeding, please hurry up!”

Finally, after roughly 45 minutes of torture, the band goes off-stage. Alkaline Trio, the band that everyone can’t wait to see, is finally on stage and the crowd goes crazy.

Two songs into the list and there’s already a crazy mosh pit going on. The band pulled a twist when they came back for their encore.

The lead singer and guitar player, Matt Skiba, takes his place at the drums. The bassist and lead vocals, Dan Andriano, takes the position of lead guitar, and drummer, Derek Grant, takes the position of the bassist and back-up vocals. They play two songs and go out with a bang.

It’s now 11:30 and the show is over. Sadly, everyone makes their way to the front doors to go home. It’s obvious no one wants to leave. Everyone wants the band to keep performing. The night was amazing.

Alkaline Trio is definitely a band to go see perform, and the House of Blues is for sure one of the best venues to see a show. I highly recommend checking out the House of Blues for other shows and for all of you out there to see Alkaline Trio at least once in your lifetime.