The ska-punk piece from New Jersey passed by Fort Lauderdale on October 27th for the first time since The End of The Beginning Tour almost two years ago. Out of hiatus, the group played a set composed of an even number of songs from Everything Goes Numb, Somewhere In The Between, and The Hands That Thieve.
Sycamore Smith opened the sold-out show, entertaining the audience with an acoustic set full of comical stories about love and relationships. The crowd was responsive, making joking requests for him to play songs by Lynyrd Skynyrd and Jimmy Buffet.
His short set was followed by Dan Potthast, mainly known as Dan P, who, like Smith, did a split album with Streetlight Manifesto’s singer and guitarist, Tomas Kalnoky (Toh Kay). The series of splits, You by Me, were released under Pentimento Music Company, which was founded by Toh Kay. He also performed a lively, acoustic set, briefly featuring a mid-set “dance” interlude. Tired of hearing requests to play “Freebird,” he called out one of the attendees who kept making the request, and playfully wished the worst for him.
Streetlight started off their The Last Good Fight Tour by playing “With Any Sort of Certainty” off their last release, The Hands That Thieve. The audience immediately reacted, starting a pit in the center of the room, and later a second one opened up towards the left of the stage. After playing “The Three of Us,” also a fairly new song, they played older songs off of Somewhere in the Between and Everything Goes Numb.
Providing a lively performance, the audience stayed in sync with Streetlight the entire time – the pit never closed, hands were always up in the air, and lyrics were constantly exchanged. Fans even yelled out trumpet and saxophone parts, and Toh Kay often let the crowd take control of singing songs.
After “We Are The Few,” the setlist slowed down a little, allowing the crowd to catch their breath, and they played “A Better Place, A Better” and “Toe to Toe,” during which Toh Kay opted to an acoustic guitar. They dedicated “The Hands That Thieve” to their label, Victory Records, who has been in a legal battle with the band for years over issues related to royalties and fairness.
The set slowed down again with “A Moment of Silence” but picked up again with “A Moment of Violence,” and closed with “The Big Sleep.” After a minute or so of pleading, the band came out to perform two encore songs – “Here’s to Life” and “Somewhere In The Between,” whose ending provided the perfect close because of the cathartic nature of the instrumentals.
The tour will end in New Jersey on October 31st, 2015.
