thefray_houseofbluesjan09

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Editor: RachelParker@dfwlive.org

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Monday night fans from all over the state of Texas packed tightly into the House of Blues for one of the very few stops on The Fray's current tour. Needless to say the show to support their upcoming self titled sophomore album (due out February 3rd), was as sold out as it could get. The fans anxiously waited what seemed like an eternity for the band to come out on stage, so when the lights finally went down they erupted into a warm Texas welcome. The band waved as they settled into their instruments and then wasted no time going straight into the new material, which was a fair warning that the night would be full of it. However they didn't make the audience wait long before pulling out the hits. The third song played was their first radio hit, "Over My Head", also known as "Cable Car", which mixed in nicely with their new material. Most of the new material doesn't seem to stray very far away from their established sound. Sure minor details here and there are different, but at the end of the day they still hold the same overall feel. Not to mention they're damn catchy. With the new album not yet released, the audience found it difficult to sing along with the newer songs. Of course they did get the chance to sing along, quite loudly, to the more familiar material. The show itself seemed like almost two hours of just music. Issac wasted very little time chatting with the audience, which is kind of a shame because it's always enjoyable to hear stories about the writing of the songs, or even just fun banter with the audience. The set was pretty smooth up until the encore, which brought it to a screeching halt. It seemed as if they saved all the soft quiet slower songs for the encore. Now I'm not expecting some huge arena rocking last set of songs because even I like hearing a slower song in an encore but maybe they should have saved "How to Save a Life" for the finale. Judging by the venue sing along during that number it would have been the perfect choice for going out with a big bang. Instead they ended with Issac onstage by himself playing guitar on a new song that may have been better suited for the middle of the set. Even in the end with the semi flawed order of the set list, the band put on a fantastic show, every member giving conviction to what they were playing. They definitely know how to make you believe what they're trying to say, and that's one of the most important things a band can do onstage.

-Rachel Parker