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08/07/2010 Tonic, Ryan Star, More Than Me, Thriving Ivory (Niagara Falls, NY @ Hard Rock Cafe)

By Eric | August 20, 2010 12:23 pm

[Ten Cent Howl was also on the bill but we didn’t catch them.]
Tiff and I weren’t going to miss Tonic this close to home, for free, plus our boys in More Than Me opening? Yes please! The concert was actually outside the Hard Rock, and they blocked off a bunch of the surrounding streets and created a little festival site out of it. We arrived and chatted up Todd (from MTM) for a minute or two before milling around the Falls for a little bit. We came back just as Thriving Ivory was starting, and I kinda knew what we’d see based on the Water Street show last year. Their lead singer sounded even more nasally than last time, but the band was decent, and I think there were a handful of screaming girls up front that were there for them. Their half-hour came and went, and then it was More Than Me time! They profusely thanked the Hard Rock all night, and with good reason, as they sent them to London! The guys ran through a seven song set of favorites, including a crowd-pleasing cover of Tears For Fears’ “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”. They closed it down with the Hard Rock Battle of the Bands winning song, “Mama Said”. The crowd had certainly increased during their set, and while there were more than a few partisans, they got a very warm reception from the masses. Everyone sounded great as usual, and right after the set they had more than a few people crowding the merch booth to meet them and say hi. A great showing for them! MTM Setlist: Unconditional Truth, Know It All, You Make Me, Shoelace, Danced All Night, Everybody Wants To Rule The World, Mama Said.

Ryan Star was up next, and apparently was a contestant on Rock Star: Supernova. He and his band put on an entertaining set, and I while I admit we didn’t pay a whole lot of attention, what we did hear sounded pretty good. The whole band was certainly energetic up on stage, and they got a pretty good reception as well. About this time we ran into not only Christine and Katie from the co-op, but also one of my old high school friends Kellee and her crew, who we hung out with the rest of the night. Good times!

We certainly paid attention for the headliner of the evening, Tonic! We had a pretty good idea of what we’d see after seeing them at Turning Stone last year, and we got that and more. They played most of the same songs from the first three albums that we saw last time, but the handful of new tunes from the new album were a welcome addition. Tiff was pleased that we got Precious Little Bird, and I’m actually partial to Daffodil, which we also got. The setlist was pretty evenly distributed among the four albums, and with the exception of Mean To Me, they hit all the singles, much to the chagrin of the drunk guy that kept yelling for it. Emerson repeated several times how much fun they were having up on stage, and it was easy to see he wasn’t just saying it! The guys jammed out on a lot of the songs, and sounded great doing it. Much like Turning Stone, the jam during Casual Affair was epic! The crowd’s response was great, considering this was a freebie, which means anyone and everyone shows up. After the rousing encore of Irish, Kellee took a page out of my book and got the setlist from the soundboard, and found the Tonic guys along the fence behind the stage, and got their autographs and pictures with them! We got to chat with them for a minute, and they were quite gracious to everyone that approached them. A perfect end to a great show, on a night with perfect weather for an outdoor concert!
Tonic setlist: Open Up Your Eyes,Take Me As I Am, Bigger Than Both, Future Says Run, Top Falls Down, You Wanted More, Sugar, I Want It To Be, Daffodil, Mountain, Release Me, Wicked Soldier, Come Rest Your Head, Precious Little Bird
If You Could Only See, Casual Affair. Encore: Irish.

[flickr-gallery pagination=”0″ mode=”tag” tags=”2010-08-07, tonic” tag_mode=”all”]

Found a couple videos on YouTube also!

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