Motion City Soundtrack - Gig Review & Photo Gallery 6th April @ Altar Bar, Hobart TAS

Motion City Soundtrack
Altar Bar, Hobart TAS
April 6, 2025
Support: Chasing Ghosts

Honestly, I probably could’ve written this review a few weeks ago, and in full truth, I almost did. I knew what I was going to see, because I’d already experienced it. To get to do it again was a privilege I never expected I’d be afforded. It’s the first show in a very long time that I didn’t take notes at (aside from the words “Justin is a good egg”), and only half of that is because I managed to show up to the show with 32% battery.

One of the hardest parts of living in Launceston is twofold: 1 - you’re not in Hobart, and 2 - even if you were, no band really tours there anyway. So when the news broke that Motion City Soundtrack would be fixing one of those problems, it wasn’t a hard decision to make a trek over the Midlands to the southern most capital. For those playing at home, that’s a casual 500km round-trip the evening of. That’s definitely one convenience I do miss from the Big Island, but I digress.

Altar Bar as a venue is pretty cool. Aligned with the stalwart of Hobart nightlife, In The Hanging Garden, the venue is split over two levels, with the band room and front bar downstairs, and a lovely, low-light bar affair packed with comfortable couches and beautiful period lamps. The jaffles are pretty good too!

First out of the gate was Jimmy Kyle of Chasing Ghosts, delivering an intimate solo acoustic set. An Indigenous man from Victoria, many of his songs focus on the stories of broken homes contemporary and times historical - delivered with impassioned pleas for everybody to be conscious of where they stand.

His sound is reminiscent of Mark Seymour and Paul Dempsey, a strong voice carrying powerful words. He also offered words of solidarity with the LGBTGIA+ community, and a directive for “rednecks [to] fuck off”. I like that kind of directness. His work is definitely worth checking out, either solo or with his band.

I’d been lucky to make nice with lead singer for Motion City Soundtrack, Justin Courtney Pierre, prior to the show, mentioning that I was also shooting the show on some nice black and white film on a copy of my very first camera. Who knew shooting a show in unusual ways would pay! Normally the first three songs in a set are on the table for photographers covering a show, but JCP gave me the nod to do what I needed to. Luckily too, things naturally tend to get more exciting as a show wears on.

With 6 LPs and a bunch of short-players in their catalogue, there was a glut of material to choose from. Conspicuously absent however was their most recent release, ‘Stop Talking.’ Instead, we were met with a mix of fan favourites, with the majority of material coming from Commit This to Memory through Even If It Kills Me era – the period many listeners became privy to the band.

Obvious tracks like ‘Broken Heart’ and ‘Make Out Kids’ were met with appropriate fanfare, and indeed fan participation – one hallmark of a MCS show. Frontman Pierre is a natural for crowd work; lingering injury only threatening to dull his frenetic stage presence.

Sporting a cane and a whole extra person to deliver his guitar parts, we got to see a marginally calmer affair. Marginally. Also notably absent was founding member/guitarist, Joshua Cain, attending to family matters back home. Given the staff changes, the show was surprisingly seamless.

Normally when you are shooting a show, you look for what are called “reaction guys”. Basically, the person in the crowd you can reliably look to for a reaction when the band does something noteworthy. I got lucky, one of the absolute best I have ever shot was on the stage in the form of synth player, Jesse Johnson. Considering these dudes are all pushing 50, it is incredible to see such an energetic stage presence. The audience themselves had plenty of great reactions, with the front row appearing under a trance for much of the show.

The crowd responded in kind. With every familiar word, the audience were in fever pitch carrying along, chanting the songs many of us have lived through the feeling of in our younger years. Nothing will make you feel old like being at an emo show for a band you started listening to a couple of decades ago, swear to god. But given the mix of crowd in attendance, it’s not a bad way to feel youthful too.

Notably here for this tour was long-time drummer, Tony Thaxton, after being absent for the last visit. One of the pieces that separate MCS from their contemporaries is his work and how it bookends the melodies, and this carries through into the live show so fully. His use of the kit of powerful and complex, a rarity in the genre.

We hear an onslaught of classics, ‘Attractive Today’, ‘My Favorite Accident’, and ‘L.G. FUAD’ are all met with huge audience participation, eventually finding the traditional call and response as is tradition. The crowd know every word to all of the tracks offered, and they sing them back at the band with force.

One thing you might expect from a show of this type where the lyrical themes are hallmarked by broken and dejected rejects of society, but everyone in attendance is joyous. There is catharsis en masse when you cram so many hurt souls in a room. For many of us the topics have been and gone, but for others, some wounds remain evergreen. MCS speak to all of them, comfortingly.

The entire setlist, about 15 tracks in all, feels satisfying in how densely packed it was with things that would give the fans the most value out of a pretty unexpected tour. It’s nice when a band doesn’t set out to waste your time. I don’t think a single track missed which is rare.

I figure at this point I’m not likely to get to see them again – this was my third opportunity (well, second opportunity realised, I’ve written about the lamentable absent one elsewhere…) out of the grand total of zero I expected when I started listening a couple of decades ago. I was still a teenager, now I’m staring down 40. Emo truly does never die.

After the show, JCP is an absolute gentleman. Meeting each fan who lined up despite having a no-speaking policy for preserving his voice for the tour. Where others just wouldn’t bother, a consummate showman, he instead interacted through his own version of Charades. Those who stayed were given rare access to one of the gentlemen of the industry, with him doing all he could to make sure the punters left satisfied. I respect that immensely.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen a show, let alone covered one, so getting one like this that paid off was a nice change. It was a huge slog to get to this gig given its relative location, but then last time I saw them I literally flew interstate so who is the winner here? Me. It’s definitely me. There’s never a moment I regret this gig. Thank you Wall of Sound for bringing dreams to life xo

Emo never dies, it just gets a little bit greyer and maybe needs a cane from time to time. Still rocks though!

Review & Photo Gallery by Benji Alldridge @benjaminalldridge. Please credit Wall of Sound and Benji Alldridge if you repost photos.