Hellogodbye at House of Blues

I'm long overdue for this post, but on Jan 25, I accomplished one of my life dreams and saw Hellogoodbye at the Dallas, TX House of Blues. My boyfriend and I made a day of it by heading down to Buffalo Exchange and picking up a few nifty finds, then heading to Imax to watch Tron (Holy F I want everything in Jeff Bridges hideout!).








Then we hit up the show where 3 opening bands were set to play before Hellogoodbye finally got onstage. They played tons of material from their new "Would it kill you?" album, which sounded even better live, and of course, the old hits; Bonnie Taylor Shakedown, Baby its Fact, Shimmy Shimmy Quarter Turn, and -after a hearty encore- Here in Your Arms.





The guys were really cool, it felt kind of like we stumbled onto their jam session and they welcomed us to listen. It was a very informal, garage band feel. I loved it! The keyboardist was one of those love-to-hate douchebags. Everyone's got a friend like that: The super nerdy guy who acts like a dick because he's absolutely sure of himself no matter what, and doesn't care who he offends in the process. There was this one chick in the audience, some scene kid who had obv snagged some shots from her daddy's liquor cabinet before she came to the show, who was shouting out, over and over, "YOU GUYS F*CKING ROOOOOCK!!"

Keyboardist, telling the scene kid off.

The first time she said it, the keyboardist said "Hey, this is a family show! Watch your f*cking language!", and everyone laughed. The next time she did it, Forrest (lead singer) said "Thank you." very graciously. The next time, they both were like "Yeah, yeah we know. Ok you can stop now" like getting angry at the situation. Thirty minutes later, the next time she opened her mouth, keyboard guy said "LEAVE. Shut up or get out." It was hilarious because she was really getting on everyone's nerves. Pretty funny.

All in all, they were perfect live, sounding exactly the way they do on their album. There was a lot of crowd interaction and banter onstage where it seemed they were just goofing off and having a good time. They even started to play a few Weezer covers, and at one point, Forrest went to adjust his amp, and the feedback made him say, "Sounds like a whale, doesn't it? Alright for the next 8 minutes, I will be playing you whale sounds." And proceeded to do just that for a couple minutes at least. It was great.

Whale sounds.

Merch tables were full of goodies, I bought my first 7" record on yellow vinyl and some buttons. I wanted a certain shirt that they were already sold out of in an XS, and I'd rather order online then settle for a L.

Merch table.


Daniel and I.

Best of all, got to meet and greet the band, bringing my goal of seeing AND meeting Hellogoodbye full circle. Couldn't have planned it better. And to think, I almost didn't ask off from work for it.

Ukulele player (with a British accent ! )

One of the guitarists.


Forrest Kline, lead singer. Adorkable.


-S.v.