Published on September 07, 2008.

When it comes to concerts, Motion City Soundtrack travels with the right people.

The Silent Years opened for the band with an energetic performance Thursday in the Auditorium.

The gracious nature of The Silent Years was refreshing. Because they are not as well-known, the band is not tainted by the cockiness many bands succumb to, and it showed in their performance.

The band performed just as well live as they sound on their CD, and crowd reaction was positive. Microphone effects, syncopated rhythms and sing-alongs completed the opening act with a bang. It is obvious this is a band on the verge of making it big.

It took a while to warm up to the second opening band, The Hard Lessons. The two band members are MSU alumni, and it was apparent many people in the audience came out just to see The Hard Lessons, as crowd reaction was wild from the get-go.

Korin Kox, vocalist and keyboardist, sounded like a mix of Katy Perry and Regina Spektor, and at times her sound was too much like country-twang.

However, the harmonizing between guitarist/vocalist Augie Visocchi and Kox was hauntingly beautiful.

Margot & The Nuclear So & So’s, the third and last opening band, quickly went downhill. The eight-member band had a dark sound. On one number, half of the lyrics were lead singer Richard Edwards meowing like a cat.

When Margot said they were going to play a few more songs, an audience member yelled “No!”

Motion City Soundtrack played old and new songs, with classics such as “Capital H” mixing in well with new successes such as “This is for Real.”

The most amusing part of Motion City Soundtrack’s performance was when lead singer Justin Pierre forgot the words in the middle of “Better Open The Door.”

“Please put this up on YouTube,” he joked with the crowd after the third attempt to restart the song. It was refreshing to see how human he is, despite the fame.

Despite one poor opening band, the concert was a perfect mix of sounds, from upbeat, poppy tunes to folky, ambient jams.