Neon Trees at Riot Fest 2012 | Photos and review
Singer Tyler Glenn of Utah pop band Neon Trees, who was channeling Billy Idol in bleached hair and electric blue leggings, had pipes and vocal delivery that even the Congress Theater’s acoustical challenges couldn’t touch. Yet songs like “Everybody Talks” and “1983,” which were as pitch-perfect live as they are on the mainstream radio stations they inhabit, were slightly ill-fitted to a group of fans that seemed trapped holding floor space between Pegboy and the Offspring. It was Riot Fest, after all, and the band’s continual message of “Fame is Dead”—plastered in a rather contrived manner on the drum set as well as in the rather meek group’s public branding—felt manufactured. And even though Glenn, who tried his best to appear to be championing the fame-averse vibe (he felt the need to randomly declare that “Everybody on reality TV is so fucking ugly”), couldn’t help boasting that the highly catchy “Animal” was a song that “just became really popular and really infectious.”
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