Cola and Snooper Demonstrate Musical Patchwork at The Fairmount

There are a multitude of first-world problems that concertgoers face every month. It could be that you forgot your good-quality earplugs, or maybe you were even slightly inconvenienced by having to dump out your water bottle before entering the venue. But, probably the most frustrating of all: when two shows you’ve been anticipating for months end up falling on the same date. But sometimes, by pure luck, you can end up seeing those two shows pair together into one, which is exactly what happened on Friday at the Fairmount Theatre when Cola and Snooper performed on the same bill, after both of Cola’s opening bands, Shunk and Yves Jarvis, had cancelled.

While this was exciting news since I've become a fan of both bands, I was immediately concerned that, while both bands are respectively great live, they would feel slightly out of place together in the same show in terms of genre and audience. Snooper is known for their incredibly fast and catchy “no-nonsense” punk music with hugely energetic and intense performances for their live shows, while Cola is known for a much more laid-back concert experience with their indie/post-punk minimalistic approach, feeling very familiar to when I had seen Interpol live a few years back. Nevertheless, I was very curious to see how the show would function and if it would turn out successful despite my worries.

The show began quite promising, with openers Pressure Pin and The Retail Simps giving the crowd a great dose of punk and art rock filled with energy that would get many fans excited for what was to come; however, since the crowd was quite split between fans of Cola and Snooper, there seemed to remain an awkward energy amongst the audience as the show dragged on.

As the first headliner of the night, Cola took to the stage soon after and immediately the venue began to fill up, creating an enormous excitement that they were luckily able to capitalize on. What instantly stuck out to me as Cola opened their set with their song “Degree” is how engaging the drumming style and stage presence that their drummer Evan Cartwright provided, adding a whole new personality to their live set that I wouldn’t have thought otherwise when first listening to their record. As their set continued, I was worried the show would begin losing some energy due to a lack of reception from many of the fans in attendance who may have shown up intending to see Snooper, but luckily my excitement came right back once they played the first chords of their single “Albatross”, which even gave those who weren’t fans of Cola no choice but to watch with enjoyment during the chorus as their bassist Ben Sidworthy delivered catchy bass lines that flowed seamlessly with Tim Darcy’s declarative but melodic vocal performance.

As Cola ended their set, Snooper began setting up their very creative stage, consisting of different DIY props the band had prepared, such as a giant cardboard traffic light and an arcade machine showing a live recording of the crowd during their performance. As soon as they began the set, playing their newest single “Company Car”, the theater erupted with energy as the band danced widely on stage along with the moshing crowd breathing much-needed life into the night. This huge opening was very unfortunately cut short almost as fast as it had started due to technical difficulties, which resulted in a nearly 15-minute intermission during the set while they tried to fix the bass amp, which regrettably killed the excitement that was created. To make matters worse, once the band was able to restart, the mix went from having no bass whatsoever to the bass overpowering every other component, which lasted until the very end of their performance. While many bands might capitulate under the circumstances, Snooper was able to salvage an incredibly memorable performance thanks to their professionalism as artists and nonstop energy and creativity, with lead vocalist Blair Tramel even dawning an enormous goblin costume and joining the mosh near the end of the set.

While this concert was riddled with issues out of everyone’s control and looked as though it could be a show that would leave little impression as a result, all bands involved were able to rely on their expert playing and performances to deliver a fantastic night of punk to be remembered.