We are getting into the summer season of concerts here in Southern California. The weather is warming up and people are more excited to spend time outdoors. We are fortunate that we have a few outdoor venues in the area, and one of the most famous is the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. This Amphitheatre is built into the hills of Griffith Park and is a favorite venue of many citizens of California. Somehow, I hadn’t had a chance to visit this venue for the better part of seven years. Thankfully Third Eye Blind decided to help change that for me when they announced their Summer Gods Tour with its SoCal stop being at the Greek. Bringing with them Yellowcard and A R I Z O N A, the fans hiked the Hollywood hills ready to enjoy a warm summer night of musical bliss.

I was not familiar with the opening band A R I Z O N A, who were from New Jersey. But they came to kick off the Summer Gods Tour with some fun. Starting their set off with “Cross My Mind,” the audience was hit with upbeat pop style tunes. Lead singer Zachary Charles almost has a muscle bro look to him but sings with a brightness that radiates into the audience. His charm is infectious as it coerces the audience to dance along, even if they don’t know the music. Guitarist Nathan Esquite looks like he stepped out of Woodstock, and right onto stage with all his tie-dye attire. But with his guitar he blends funk, rock, and even surf styles together to help drive A R I Z O N A’s danceable music. Keyboardist David Labuguen is the secret sauce to the bands music that ties Esquite’s guitar and Charles vocals all together with songs like “Summer Days/Where I Wanna Be,” “What She Wants,” “Dark Skies,” “Find Someone,” “I Was Wrong,” “Oceans Way,” “Nostalgic,” “Annie,” and ending with “Freaking Out.” If there was one word I could use to describe A R I Z O N A’s music, it would just be fun. They write music that feels like it would fit perfectly into any Pixar movie. If you’re looking for some fun-loving summer tunes, I highly recommend checking out A R I Z O N A.

Up next was a band that I hate to admit, but I was a snob about in my formative years. I am talking about Yellowcard. When I was first discovering pop punk music, I could not be bothered to listen to these guys, as real punk music doesn’t use violins. I was an idiot back then. Thankfully in more recent years, I have truly come to appreciate the unique-ness that having a violin player in a pop punk band brings, and I was excited to finally see Yellowcard live. Kicking off their set with “Lights and Sounds,” I was happily surprised to hear that vocalist Ryan Key live sounds just like he does on album. While violinist’s Sean Mackin made sure the crowd was having fun, as he pulled double duty on the violin and the bands own hype man. While guitarist Ryan Mendez and bassist Josh Portman lent their instruments to driving the pop punk rhythm and energy the band has become known for. This was a special tour for the band as they were celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the album Lift a Sail by playing “Lift a Sail” and “Transmission Home” from that album. It was an even more special show for Key, as his 6 month old son was seeing daddy perform for the first time ever. Key had to fight back some tears of joy as he announced this moment, and so did some of the crowd. He had to make sure his son heard the best of everything Yellowcard had to offer with songs like “Cut Me, Mick,” “Only One,” “Southern Air,” “One Bedroom In,” “Childhood Eyes,” “Keeper,” “Be the Young,” “The Hurt is Gone,” and ending with the seminal “Ocean Avenue.” This show helped cement snobbish teenage Matt truly was an idiot who should have appreciated this band a lot sooner.

As we anxiously waited for our headliner, the crowd fully packed the Greek Theatre. You could feel a mood shift as the crowd was ready to become unglued for Third Eye Blind. Keyboardist Colin Creev sauntered on stage and began playing the opening tune to “Motorcyle Drive By,” as one by one the rest of the band made their way to the stage. The band started the show out by huddling around drummer Brad Hargreaves near the backline of the stage. Instead opting to have the light show be the focal point of the start of the night. Moving into “Never Let You Go,” vocalist Stephan Jenkins finally descended to the front of the stage to embrace the screaming fans. Jenkins captivated the audience with his charisma and swagger across the stage, as the audience hung on every lyric he sang. Guitarist Kryz Reid also made his way to the foot of the stage, where he would lay into his wah-wah pedal for some of Third Eye Blinds solos. While bassist Alex LeCavalier personified rock n roll with his long stretched power stances, and hair flips throughout the set. Los Angeles was greeted to a surprise guest when Machine Gun Kelly came out to help sing “Slow Motion.” Which caused a huge uproar of support from the crowd to see this unique moment. Third Eye Blind curated the perfect sing a long set for fans to enjoy that included eight songs off of their self-titled debut album, and songs from the rest of their discography like “Dust Storm,” “Narcolepsy,” “The Kids are Coming (To Take You Down),” “Wolf Like Me/Company,” “Graduate,” “Wounded,” “Weightless/Faster/Water Landing,” “Losing a Whole Year,” “The Background,” “Mine,” “Blinded (When I See You),” “Jumper,” “Semi-Charmed Life,” and coming back for a crowd assisted “How’s It Going to Be.” Even though we got two hours of monumental songs performed for us, the crowd still desired more, but we will have to wait until next time.    

Third Eye Blind is a band who’s name I have always known, and their songs “Jumper” and “Semi-Charmed Life” are permanent mainstays in the cultural zeitgeist. But seeing them live, I truly did not understand how many major hits this band had. I found myself constantly going, Wait I know this!, over and over again. The band helped define alternative rock in the late 90s and early 2000’s, and I personally never realized how much their music existed around me. But if there was one lyric or tune that I feel defined the 90s, it would have to be “Semi-Charmed Life’s” opening lyrics of “Doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo.” This melody sums up the 90s perfectly, and everyone in the Greek was transported back to their teenage years getting to sing along to this moment.