My music review of the baby ABJ bands and Ludo.

(The Famed at The Granada)


Anything But Joey recently splint into two bands, Stuck on Broadway and The Famed. On Friday I went to the SOB/The Famed/Ludo show at the Granada. Since it was the first time that I saw any of these bands live, I will divulge what I thought about them.

The first band to play (besides Crowned King, I missed them) was Stuck on Broadway. They played pretty good, and they are sticking with the powerpop sound of Anything But Joey. They were fine, but a little bit lean on the amount of songs. This is understandable as I have heard that they were short a band member for awhile. I think that once they get rolling they will get pretty good, but at the moment I see some problems with them. First is that they are boring to watch. I know that I am at a show to watch them play music, but it is called a “show” for a reason. Secondly, they played a couple ABJ songs, which I think is the wrong thing to do. For one ABJ played the songs better and for two I think that SOB needs to separate themselves from ABJ. It was nice to hear the ABJ songs live again, but it just made me miss ABJ. All in all though I think Stuck on Broadway has got potential musically, I think that they just need to work on their showmanship some.

The next band to play was The Famed. Now everything that Stuck on Broadway did wrong The Famed did right. First is that they were fun to watch. They were very active on stage, and to some extent they moved around to show you what parts of the song to listen to. So when the guitar was the lead in the song the player was stepping up to be the lead visually. It helped me understand the songs much quicker since I had not heard many of them before the show. Also their strong presence, along with a different style of music, separated them from ABJ, I never felt like I was missing ABJ while watching them play, even though the lead singer is the same. I think that this will help establish them much quicker in the music scene.

Ok, now the things that I didn’t like about The Famed. First, although their intro was a good change from the norm, it was a bit long, and I swear that it is a ripped song from a movie, and not from an actual performance (I might just be crazy). Secondly, I do not dig their new look. I see why they went so radically different (again to distance themselves from ABJ), and in the end I think it will work for them, but seriously, the first thing that came to mind when I saw them all dressed in black was “poser”. Lastly, I think that they do not have as much potential with their music. What they have right now is good, but I think that SOB will be able to outshine them musically in a couple of years. But, as of right now, The Famed came out on top musically.

The last band to play was Ludo. Now I have listened to some of their music before and I was not that impressed by it. But since Amber liked them (I think that she has a good ear for music), I decided to try to put aside my preconceived notions from before and listen without bias. It turns out that they are very good live. I could see that they knew what they were doing on stage, especially compared to the new bands that played before them, and their music was very polished. I did enjoy their music, but what really shined with them was their new stuff. They played a couple of new songs that really rocked, and to me, showed that they are starting to really mature as a band musically. And, I have to say it, the song about the zombies rocked. Anyways, Ludo was a good band to end the night on as they really combined a good show with good music.

Overall Ludo was the best band at the show, but the other two bands look like they will be potentially as good or better. If the new songs that they played are an indication of where they are heading they may become one of my favorite bands.

To me it is obvious that The Famed will be successful. They know how to put on a good show, but I just feel that they really need another very good song to hold them out for the long run (it is possible that a re-work on a current song is all that is needed), but to me it sounded like their music was a bit shallow. I think that Stuck on Broadway has the most potential. Drew writes very good songs, but at the moment I think that they are missing a band member to lead the show. Either Drew needs to step up, or they need to add someone else, because there needs to be more “show” in their show. I think that if they can make it through a couple years of playing it small, they will work out a formula that will work live and be a very good band.

* pant, pant, pant*
Review over.