On Wednesday October 27 the Nintendo Fusion Tour stopped by the Avalon in Boston, MA. The tour featured different bands throughout the tour. Story Of The Year were tapped to headline the tour with other acts including Lost Prophets, My Chemical Romance, Autopilot Off, Anberlin, Letter Kills. The Boston show featured Story Of The Year, My Chemical Romance, Letter Kills, and Anberlin. Unfortunately the Lost Prophets weren't on either of the New England shows.

The whole concept of the Nintendo Fusion Tour is to bring video games and music together to create a fun and interactive setting. The lobby of the venue was transformed into a gaming kiosk that featured some of the hottest upcoming Nintendo GameCube games. Fans also will got a sneak preview of the new Nintendo DS, which is an innovative dual-screen, wireless, hand-held video game system. It was certainly a cool way to enter a venue.

Anberlin kicked off the show around 6:30, despite that the tickets stated 7:00pm was the start time of the show, due to the fact that it was game 4 of the World Series and we were in Boston on the same street that Fenway was… thus thousands of drunk, rioting people. Anywho… Anberlin gave a pretty impressive twenty-five minute set and fit well on the bill, producing a semi-punk sound. It was my first time hearing them and I'd probably check them out again.

Letter Kills was the next band up and I had seen them last spring when Story Of The Year brought them on the road with them so I was pretty excited. This band is full of energy, especially lead vocalist Matthew James Shelton with his jittery antics. Their music definitely fits into the category of the modern rock meets punk meets screamo meets emo, but they have an edge that makes them stand out in the crowd. The band ripped through twenty-five minutes of energetic tunes, full of killer guitar solos and solid musicianship. Letter Kills is definitely a band worth looking into.

My Chemical Romance was up next and I consider myself a fan of their music so I was looking forward to the set. I have to admit that I was kind of let down. Although the near capacity crowd loved them so I guess you have to judge for yourself. The music was pretty live and the band was energetic. The point that really made me lose interest was how lead vocalist Ray Toro thought he was Robert Smith of The Cure. He dressed like him, acted like him, and even had make up like him. I think he needs to be a little more original. Other than that, the set was descent but I felt that 45 minutes was too long of a set. Half an hour would have a perfect set time for these guys. The highlight was a stunning performance of "I'm Not OK."

Around 9pm the lights went down for the final time of the night and the crowd erupted with deafening screams. The strobes began to flash and the humming of a guitar was cranked through the speakers. Soon afterwards the band literally ran out on stage, with vocalist Dan Marsala jumping up and down getting ready to rip into what would be an explosive hour and fifteen minute set. The band kicked off their set with the intense and adrenaline filled "And The Hero Will Drown" which had the crowd jumping and singing along at the top of their lungs. The band gave nothing but constant energy. Whether it was Marsala coming down to the crowd to sing with the fans, guitarist Philip Sneed's flips (yes, that's right, he puts down his guitar at times to do flips… it's pretty amazing), drummer Josh Willis' goofy faces, members of the band climbing speaker stacks, or bassist Adam Russell and guitarist Ryan Philips' continuous running back and forth across the stage, there was something entertaining going on at every moment.

The set was composed of pretty much everything that a Story Of The Year fan could have wanted to hear like "Falling Down," "Razorblades," "Page Avenue," the beautifully melodic and semi-acoustic "Sidewalks," in which the band instructed the crowd to hold up their modern "lighters" - cell phones, the single that boosted them into the limelight "Until The Day I Die," and their current smash "Anthem Of Our Dying Day." Aside from the normal tunes, the band also threw in some surprises like surprising and fun melody of covers including "Sweet Home Alabama," Rage Against The Machine, Kansas, and more. The band also treated the crowd to a new song which was absolutely incredible. The band closed the night with the fan favorite "In The Shadows" in which with the final breakdown the band did their traditional all together jump off of the speakers to end their set on the highest of high notes.

All in all it was a fun show filled enough energy and intensity to satisfy pretty much anyone. If you get a chance to check out Story Of The Year live, make sure you do so... this was my fourth time seeing them this year and it just keeps getting better and better. I also highly recommend Letter Kills.