Nathan Henry

History of R&R

Nov 21, 15

Final Paper

            I attended the Sleeping With Sirens and All Time Low concert on November first. There were two other opening bands, one from Japan and the other from England. This concert was part of their Back to the Future Hearts tour. All of these bands are in the pop punk rock genre. This includes elements of punk rock, pop, rock, and alternative types of music.

            The concert was held at the Great Saltair, which is a historical landmark to Salt Lake City. The original Saltair was a resort on the Great Salt Lake known as a resort that was owned by the Mormon Church. It was originally created to be a resort that was family friendly with supervision from the leaders of the Mormon Church. Although it was not the first resort to be built on the Great Salt Lake it was definitely the most successful. In 1935 the pavilion burnt down in a fire and a new Saltair was built at the same location only to later be destroyed by flooding shortly after opening. The third Saltair was built in 1981 and abandoned once again due to flooding, but was restored after the flooding was fixed. The building was purchased through investors in the music industry in 2005 and restored again. The Saltair now holds regular concerts and has been the stop for many famous artists such as: Bob Dylan, Deadmau5, Kesha, Panic! At the Disco, Evanescence, Dave Matthews Band, Marilyn Manson, and many more.

            The first main band that played was Sleeping with Sirens. They played some of their heavier rock songs and some of their acoustic versions of these songs. One example of this would be With Ears To See And Eyes To Hear. They have both an acoustic version of this song and a hard rock version. This gives some diversity to the band showing that they have a variety of the music that they play. During the concert the band played the acoustic version of With Ears To See And Eyes To Hear. This song has acoustic guitars that start off then followed by Kellin Quinn’s high quality vocals. This is slower than most of their other songs and has no other instruments in it other than the guitars and a xylophone in the background. One other song that they played at this concert was Better Off Dead. This is a faster song and starts off louder. Multiple guitars, bass guitar, drums, and vocals are used in this song. The vocals are still high quality and most of the song is faster paced, but there is one part that slows down to contrast this for the bridge of the song.

            Sleeping with Sirens was formed in 2009 in Orlando, Florida. They were noticed by and then signed with Rise Records in 1010 that then quickly released their debut album With Ears to See, And Eyes to Hear. Their third released album, Feel, came out to number three on the U.S. Billboard top 200 chart in 2013. The band has continued to produce music in their latest album, Madness, released in 2015, which was also their first album with Epitaph Records.

            The other main band preforming was All Time Low. They are also considered a punk rock alternative band. Most of their song are medium paced, but all with unique rhythms to them. One of the songs that they played was Dancing With A Wolf. This was a new song that I had heard by them but I liked it. The song starts out with guitars, bass guitar, drums and vocals. Their vocals are high quality but not as high as Kellin Quinn’s. Another song that they played was A Love Like War. This song starts out with guitars and has bass guitar, guitars, drums and vocals.

            All Time Low was originally a high school cover band formed in 2003 in Baltimore, Maryland. While being featured on tracks of other bands such as the Plain White T’s, All Time Low began to be noticed and was eventually signed to Hopeless Records in 2006. They released So Wrong, It’s Right in 2007 being their first full length release and then were named Band of the Year in 2008 by Alternative Press. They released many more albums through the years, all-coming in high on the Billboard Hot 100 list. Then in 2015 they released their sixth record, Future Hearts, and are currently on tour for that album release.

            The Great Saltair is a great historical landmark for Salt Lake City, the Mormon Church, and the music industry. When it was first built it was an important location for the Mormon Church but when it accidently burnt down it became a landmark for the city until 2005 when it was bought by private investors and has been played by countless famous artists and is continually used today for concerts and events. Sleeping with Sirens was the first band that played on this Back to Future Hearts tour stop. They played many of their most well known songs including some of my favorites. All Time Low was the second band that played at this event. They played many of their new songs off of their new album. I did not know some of these songs, but now I listen to a couple of them after the concert. This was only the second concert that I have ever been to. I thought it was a lot of fun and I would like to go see Sleeping With Sirens again sometime.