Keep Calm and Carry On: Show Recap: Valencia at School of Rock East (South Hackensack, New Jersey)

When a person hears the words "School of Rock," they will likely think of the Jack Black movie that will likely be remembered as Black's finest performance. But for some of us who are so lucky to attend a show there, those words mean something much cooler. The School of Rock East is essentially the step bands need to take on their way to getting to bigger New Jersey venues like Starland Ballroom or the legendary Stone Pony. One of those such bands is, thankfully, Valencia. On the verge of releasing their anticipated third full-length Dancing With a Ghost, the band set out on a small headlining run with Automatic Loveletter to support the album's release before touring with the likes of Motion City Soundtrack, Say Anything, and Saves the Day. And while those three bands are all legends in their own right, after the show Valencia put on at the School of Rock East on Friday, October 1st, they'll be on that level in no time.

Before Valencia could take the stage, however, there were a few openers to be endured. Two local acts (The Always and We Are Chosen) were thrown onto the stage, and both were underwhelming.

Where the local openers lacked in energy and a general interest in crowd reaction, Jet Lag Gemini certainly made up for it with their set. When you're looking to book a show honoring the classic ways of pop-punk, there's no better band to book for a show than JLG, and their solo-driven blend of rock was a breath of fresh air to the crowd, which seemed to be losing interest after the local openers' sets. However, the band performed fan favorites "Fit to be Tied" and "Run This City" to the T, with guitarist Vlad Gheorghiu nailing all of his solos, which means a lot to the band. As lead vocalist Misha Zilman went into the crowd for the band's last song, the night moved from "just another show" to something with the potential to be special.

Where JLG succeeded in picking up the energy and pace of the show, Automatic Loveletter equally failed in their overall stage presence. The band is the brainchild of frontwoman Juliet Simms, who no doubt can sing (just ask All Time Low and Every Avenue, who have enlisted Simms's pipes on their recordings), her voice did not sound on point at all, which did not bode well for the future, as this was the first night of the tour. The band's set seemed to drag on, and was only made longer by the anticipation of Valencia playing next.

As the stage grew dim, the PA system began to belt out "Bed Intruder" (if you don't know what that means, Google it for the love of God), and Valencia finally took the stage. Opening with the impactful "Holiday," it became evident why the crowd was so anxious and bored for most of the opening acts; the gang vocals provided by the crowd were near-perfect, and fans old and young a like were lining the spaces between the music and Shane Henderson's vocals with chants eerily reminiscent to the gang/chant vocal parts of the beautiful We All Need a Reason to Believe. Reason songs dominated the set, as the band played most of the songs from their breakthrough second album, stopping only to play the two songs the band had released from Dancing With a Ghost (the title track and "Spinning Out"). However, as a bit of a reward for their more loyal fans, playing "The Space Between" to end their set, followed by "Away We Go" for a brief encore. If one criticism, it would be that Valencia's set was too top-heavy, but at that point, any negativity found would be the result of nit-picking, and Valencia's energetic, emotional, and fun set would have been ruined by doing so. It was a great night for everyone involved: fans got to sing their lungs out with one of the premiere pop-punk bands around, while the band sold a ton of copies of Dancing With a Ghost two weeks before its release. It was a great night, and anyone who hasn't seen Valencia play should do so on this tour, because they just may be playing bigger venues with higher-priced tickets next time around. And they have an undying fanbase who will attest to that.

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