The Minnesota legends travelled ‘Down Under’ to support Yellowcard in celebration of Ocean Avenue’s 20th anniversary. When Yellowcard frontman Ryan Key lost his voice due to illness, it was Justin Pierre, Motion City Soundtrack and Plain White Ts who came to the rescue. 

After a cancelled show in Sydney two days earlier, I was overwhelmed with relief to hear that Motion City Soundtrack would still be taking the stage with Plain White Ts, even when Ryan Key’s voice proved still unwell and Yellowcard could not. As this show was a 2.5 hour commute from Sydney, it was heartwarming to see these two bands choosing to still perform, giving back to a small community who seldom welcome such big name bands. 

Plain White Ts opened the show at the University of Newcastle’s Bar On The Hill in style. They welcomed the crowd with open arms, with a longer set than in other Australian shows, and had sincere gratitude to concertgoers who chose to come along and support them despite being offered a full refund. 

Motion City Soundtrack began their now-headlining act with “Broken Heart”. The crowd really began to fill out and bask in merriment at frontman Justin’s theatrics, pulling shapes one could only dream of,while keyboardist Jesse Johnson embodied the energy the crowd was exuding as he threw his entire body into his music. 

During the early moments of their set, Justin thanked the crowd for “coming, staying and being”. It was clear that this sentiment carried through more than the face value in which it could’ve been perceived. For many concertgoers in Newcastle that evening, this show was what they had been looking forward to for almost a year — A beautiful yet succinct reminder that live music and this scene matters and is such a lifeline to many. 

Motion City Soundtrack seemed to be firing on all cylinders, even with Justin Pierre’s reminders of our rapid aging, incorporating his walking stick into his eccentric moves. It was clear that the crowd was lapping up every second of the action, going especially wild for tracks like “Attractive Today”, “Disappear”, “Make Out Kids” and crowd favourite, “Everything Is Alright”. 

It is important to mention the way Jake Carlson, a guitar tech and long time friend of the band, stepped up and absolutely rocked out on guitar for this leg of the tour. He had big shoes to fill, with Joshua Cain taking time to be with his family during the very sad event of his dad’s passing, yet Jake rose to the occasion and didn’t miss a beat. 

Closing out their hour long set with “The Future Freaks Me Out”, I looked around me and struggled to find a patron who wasn’t wearing a Motion City Soundtrack shirt bought from the merch stand that evening. It had been made abundantly clear that by showing up for the scene and reminding the people of Newcastle that pop punk music still matters, Motion City Soundtrack has gained themselves a plethora of new fans. 

Proving that sometimes, when the uncertainty of the future freaks you out…. You just have to scream along louder.