When I heard that The Spill Canvas was coming back to the Tri-State area I was super excited and also surprised they were not playing a show in NYC. Luckily, we had a place to crash near Asbury Park with some friends so we were able to swing the show Saturday night at The Stone Pony.
We had aimed to get there to see AM Taxi but a glitch in our timing made us miss most of the set. The small bit we saw was a very energetic with good vocals. I was glad that I got to hear their single “Mistake.”
Tyler Hilton was up next. There was little I knew about this guy aside from his appearance on One Tree Hill a few years back. The crowd’s reaction to Hilton was mixed; the front couple of rows of people looked bored by the performance, but then there were a lot of screams coming from the back. He finished his set and they broke to set up for The Spill Canvas.
The lights went low and the band came in from outside the venue. They opened with the upbeat, emotionally raw, “Polygraph, Right Now!” to fans delight. You could hear every person singing along to every word and it made the hairs stand up on my skin. Playing a majority of songs from their older album, The Spill Canvas is definitely a band that caters to their older loyal fans. The did fill their set with a few new “Dust Storm” and “Our Song,” which the band was joined on stage by Tyler Hilton.
Halfway through the performance sound guy gargled on the microphone saying that they had technical difficulties and had to stop playing. I don’t know what difficulties they were having because the sound was okay, but if it was any inclination of not hearing what that guy was saying then there must have been a problem. To kill time while the problem was being fixed, lead singer, Nick Thomas started chatting with the audience asking the other members if they had any jokes. I guess the problem was going to take a little longer than they thought becuase the band said they would be back in a few and went outside.
Luckily, the problem was fixed and the guys came back, but the time spent on the problem cut a few songs off the setlist. The band closed with the crowd favorites “Staplegunned” and “All Hail The Heart Breaker.”