The Academy Is…Live

I’ve had SANTI since a week before it came out. I’ve listened to it on occasion, but it just never had that feeling that Almost Here did; that indescribable force that provokes every emotion, causing me to sit in front of iTunes and cry my heart out.
On July 12th, I got to see Billy Beckett and company open for WBRU’s Summer Concert Series at Providence Pier in Providence, Rhode Island.
The band came out on stage, and I got that butterflies feeling that has become less frequent and more of a treat as the number of shows I attend increases. They opened their set with the Phrase That Pays, and pumped up the crowd to follow up with a SANTI release, LAX to O’Hare. The entire set was upbeat, and exciting, flip flopping from Almost Here tracks to SANTI ones. Even if my Santi lyrics were a bit rough, William, Sisky, The Butcher, Mike and Michael delivered an amazing performance, and totally won me over, SANTI style. They finished up with Almost Here, a real treat that gave me, along with every other person there goose bumps, and finally the original Checkmarks.
I have been to 60 shows in my wee lifetime of 15 years, and never have I yelled the lyrics to a song so loudly that I could literally feel my veins popping out of my neck as the man with the sexiest hip bones out there sang, staring directly into my eyes. It was my third and most memorable time seeing the ever amazing The Academy Is…, and I’d recommend their show to anyone and everyone, but most importantly people who were unimpressed by their albums. They deliver an incredible performance every time, positively hooking every viewer in the crowd to every lyric, note and beat issued from their stage. On top of it all, the show was a mere 6 bucks!

–By Keaton