The crowd was certainly into it at Kansas City’s recordBar on Thursday night. Singer/songwriter and Into It. Over It. front-man Evan Weiss has a full band on the tour in which they are supporting Mineral on their 25+ show reunion tour.
St. Louis natives Foxing opened the evening with a shorter set. The alternative group makes it difficult to classify their genre by the pairing of the emo lyrics with the hardcore sounds. Then there is “The Medic,” a song which seems to be influenced by Chicago’s own American Football. The addition of a trumpet further proves this inspiration. American Football’s Mike Kinsella joins Weiss in the project Their / They’re / There.
But for the tour Weiss and his full band focuses on Into It. Over It. fame. The vivid lyrics are perfect for the new listener to connect. Beginning with the seemingly abrasive line, “How the hell could I have been so dumb?” from “Embracing Facts,” Weiss grabs the listener by the shirt-collar and pulls them close with the percussion-heavy and quick track.
Into It. Over It. continued with their Proper album by playing “Staring at the Ceiling.” Other songs from the 2011 album, “Fortunate Friends” and “Midnight: Carroll Street,” also made appearances. Weiss and the gang predominately played tunes from Intersections, the latest full-length album released in 2013.
Toward the end of the set, two songs from 52 Weeks made the cut. “22 Syllables” and “Wearing White” took the crowd back to 2009, the year Weiss’s compilation album was released. 52 Weeks was a double-album and Weiss wrote, recorded, and released a new song for 52 straight weeks.
The influence of Matt Pryor (of The Get Up Kids and The New Amsterdams fame) on Weiss is apparent in everything from the shorter-length tracks to the involvement in several projects. Let’s not forget the ability to strip down to a guitar for solo appearances. However, Weiss makes a name for himself with the ever-enticing variety of literal lyrics in “Fortunate Friends” to the vivid and complex verses in “Spatial Exploration.”
Weiss does not let the clichés of the “emo revival” limit his clever lyrics. In “Spinning Thread,” he crafts the verses to be filled, yet not overloaded, with metaphors: “Since I’ve been writing books you’ve sewn the binding/An obligation stitched between careers/That you’ve been seaming like a stranger.”
Into It. Over It. captivated the mixed audience of modern-emo lovers to the traditionalist 30-somethings who grew up with Mineral. With the crowd still reeling from Weiss and gang, Chris Simpson and the crew captured the audience’s attention with familiar guitar-plucking of “Five, Eight, and Ten.” While Mineral disbanded in 1997, for the next hour it seemed as though the 90’s returned with the ever-faithful tunes from The Power of Failing and EndSerenading.
Simpson’s older voice was filled with wisdom and experience. After beginning the set with three more-upbeat tunes from their debut album, Mineral transitioned from “Slower” to the slower-paced songs on EndSerenading.
Rather than playing the album from start to finish, the four-some bounced around, starting with track number seven “Aletter.” They returned to their debut album for the final song of the set before playing “Lovelettertypewriter” and “Palisade” and finishing with the powerful “Parking Lot.”
Next time don’t miss Weiss and company when they come to town. Otherwise you may never get over it.
