It was pouring rain out but, that didn’t stop the crowd from lining up, from as early as 9 AM, to see the NJ stop of the Sleeping with Giants Tour October 26 at Starland Ballroom. The Academy Is… really does have some dedicated fans and they made sure to deliver a solid performance for them on this night. Also on the bill for this concert was Sherwood, The Rocket Summer, New Jersey favorite Armor for Sleep, and a very special guest Cobra Starship.

Kicking off the show was Cobra Starship. The crowd was just as eager to see them as well as the headliners, The Academy Is…. Cobra began their set with the song, “The City Is at War” the first of two new songs, including “Guilty Pleasure” off their record “Viva La Cobra!”. The crowd knew all the words to these two new songs, even though the record had just dropped that very same week, obviously impressing front man Gabe Saporta while he encouraged everyone to sing along. Other songs played were “The Church of Hot Addiction” and “Send My Love to the Dance floor, I'll See You In Hell.” Closing out their set was the song, “Snake On a Plane (Bring It)” and of course TAI’s front man William Beckett stepped on stage, amidst the cheer’s of the crowd, to sing his part in the song. The energy that fed off the band and the crowd during this set really welcomed New Jersey’s own Cobra Starship back to their home.

Next up was Sherwood. Most people, including myself, were excited to see them but, became increasingly disappointed as their performance went on. The most energetic person wasn’t anyone in the crowd; it was keyboardist Mike Leibovich who seemed to be separated from anyone else in the venue in the first place. There were times where the crowd danced and started a pit or two but, that’s how any New Jersey show is. The most unusual part of this set was the fact that the crowd appeared to become tired and stopped moving around after a while. Following Sherwood was The Rocket Summer. I had always wanted to see this band live but, unfortunately I was only able to listen rather than watch due to the fact that Cobra Starship was going around meeting their fans and I didn’t want to pass up on that opportunity! From what I did hear, though, The Rocket Summer played a good mix of old and new songs and I was still able to enjoy it without watching, which is a very important thing in going to a band’s concert.

Armor for Sleep was took the stage next. Although I have never been a fan of their music I have to say that watching them was entertaining. The crowd was also extremely into Armor’s set, with endless amounts of crowd surfers and mosh pits opening up in the crowd. During their set, they played songs from their previous record, previewed new songs from the new record “Smile for Them”, and played their new single “Williamsburg.” Along with Cobra Starship, Armor was happy to be welcomed home so enthusiastically.

Armor’s set had ended as the lights grew dark and the crowd’s screams grow louder and more impatient. Finally, the moment everyone had waited for all day in the pouring rain and freezing cold; The Academy Is… walked on stage. “Same Blood” was the first song played followed by a few songs from “Almost Here” which the crowd seemed to favor more over the songs from “Santi.” As usual TAI delivered nothing short of an amazing performance and I felt, played even better than they had the night before at NYC’s date at the Nokia Theater.

During the songs there was of course some humorous conversation that took place. William Beckett even took the time to explain why New Jersey’s Halloween will be the scariest of all: The Chicago Bulls were coming to play the New Jersey Nets and Beckett predicted the Bulls would win. Of course the crowd wasn’t happy about this so William and, drummer of The Academy Is…, The Butcher broke out into a cover of “Monster Mash.” That wasn’t the only “out of the ordinary” event to take place on this night, at the start of “Classifieds” Beckett’s microphone died which lead to an unexpected guitar solo by Michael Guy Chislett with the rest of the band playing for about a minute. When Beckett’s mic was fixed the crowd was greeted with another surprise during “Classifieds”, Ryland Blackinton, Alex Suarez, and Gabe Saporta of Cobra Starship ran out on stage. Saporta sang the rest of the song with Beckett as Blackinton and Suarez continued to jump and dance around the stage to the excitement of everyone in the venue. After this, the concert went on as usual up until “Skeptics and True Believers” was played. The microphone died again during the middle of the song, Beckett didn’t know what to do but then quickly threw it down and encouraged the crowd sang the rest of the song along with him.

The Academy Is… concluded their set with “Checkmarks” but the crowd still wanted more, so an encore followed. “Unexpected Places” was the first song and included a booming drum solo that didn’t just include The Butcher but, two other TAI crew members playing the drums at the same time. The last song played was an old favorite, “Almost Here” which seemed to be the perfect song to end the night with.

The Sleeping with Giants Tour was one of the best shows I have been to and by the look on the faces of the crowd as they exiting the venue, most people felt the same. All the bands tried their best to put on a great show and impressed the crowd, with the exception of Sherwood. The best thing about this concert was how personal each band made it. Coming to large venues like Starland Ballroom, it’s easy to forget what a small show feels like because the intimacy is lost. However, each band made an effort to meet their fans, walk around the venue, and embrace each person in the crowd through their music. The only downfall of this show wasn’t because of the bands; it was some of the fans. In the beginning of the show some people forgot that concerts are supposed to be for the love of the music, not what the band members look like or how catchy something sounds. This caused some bickering amongst people in the crowd, which made some parts of the concert uncomfortable. But, by the end of the night there seemed to be a unity formed between each person, especially when everyone helped Beckett sing “Skeptics and True Believers.” Through the Sleeping With Giants tour, The Academy Is… have shown that they belong to be headlining these large venues and put on one of the best live shows in the modern rock scene today.