Live in Los Angeles: HOP ALONG

Live in Los Angeles:

HOP ALONG

 

 

words by Dan Sinclair

photography by Tonje Thilesen

 

 

LOS ANGELES, CA-- This world needs more unique voices like Frances Quinlan, and for the life of me I can’t figure out how Hop Along is not more well-known. Seriously, fuck auto-tuning and generic pop. It’s time to get back to the real shit-- you know, that kind of music that actually makes you feel something.

Straight out of Philadelphia*, front woman Francis and her backing male bandmates-- brother Mark on drums, bassist Tyler Long and Joe Reinhart on lead guitar-- took stage last night in front of a sold-out crowd at the Teragram Ballroom in downtown Los Angeles.
 
Twas a night not to be missed, but you missed it, didn’t you?
 
Sucks to be you.
 
As for me and the several hundred other lucky boys and girls, we were treated to an all-out emotional, spot-on energetic performance, so it didn’t suck to be us, like, at all.
 
This tour is in support of Hop Along’s third full-length album Bark Your Head Off, Dog, and the set was kicked off by the first single off said album, “How Simple.”
 
 
 
 
And though there was a lot of new material performed on the night, Hop Along was kind enough to also include some of this author’s favorite tunes off their breakthrough sophomore effort Painted Shut, including “Waitress” and “Powerful Man.”
 
What did Frances think of the crowd and the venue? “You guys are cute. This stage is cute.”
 
Oh, and we were and it was! Well, I was sweating a lot, so maybe not me, but everybody else seemed cutish, and the stage had those adorable lights hanging from above, so yeah, I’ll agree on cuteness all around.
 
At one point, someone in the band mentioned the last time they played it was at The Echo, (which, for anyone not familiar with the local venues here, is about a quarter of the size of the Teragram Ballroom). Reinhart asked how many fans were at that show. Some cheered, and he jokingly referred to us as “posers.” Gosh, I mean, I hope he was joking. Sniff, sniff.
 
 
 
The cheers were definitely louder when Mark called out from behind his drum set, “How many are seeing the band live for the first time?” And when Frances asked who was seeing them for “the last time,” you could hear a pin drop, which she found “very kind.”
 
Hop Along plugged along, giving the crowd a hour and a half full of self-described “sad songs” that practically everyone in attendance knew the words to**.
 
And sure, the guys in the band knew how to make their instruments sound like one was listening to the album (or better), but let’s not kid ourselves-- everyone was there to hear Frances sing. Her gritty, yet angelic vocals are where heartbreak meets hope for the first time while the whole world shakes, rattles and rolls around them.
 
*Philadelphia is the home of the defending Super Bowl Champion Eagles.
**The writer knew about 35% of the words. The rest he made up, but probably looked like he knew what he was singing to anyone who may have been staring at him during the show.***
*** Nobody was staring at the writer during the show. Probably.
 
 
Hop Along remains on tour, and just because some people in L.A. missed out, doesn’t mean you have to when they come to your town!
 

 

 

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