Soft spoken but kind of chatty, solo acoustic act The Final Goodbye chuckled at himself while attempting to motivate the crowd—which included myself, three other girls and Tasty World's bartenders. Filling in for two emo/punk bands scheduled to play Tuesday night, The Final Goodbye's lone singer and guitarist, Johnny B, didn't introduce himself nor did he present song titles before performing them. He simply dove right into carelessly strumming and singing his enjoyably catchy, lovesick tunes.Currently on tour, Atlanta based The Final Goodbye's sound mimics an amateur version of Dashboard Confessional—think slightly whiney, yet melodic, voice and simplistic acoustic guitar chords. His side-swiped dark brown hair falls gently across his eyes as he sings songs from his EP "Don't Take This Lightly" at times almost at a whisper as if the concert were more like a private VH1 session.
In between unintroduced tracks during the just under thirty-minute set, Johnny B joked about his "crappy voice" and filled the dark forgotten venue with rants on the weather. Attempting interaction with the "crowd," he asked us nonsense questions which went mostly unanswered save for an occasional "wooo" from a dreadlocked bartender.
But when he began playing again, his basic two-chord strum on his chocolate framed guitar that bled violet into its wood grain hollow body, echoed serenely out the open windows of the warehouse style bar in downtown Athens, Ga.
A slight stamor slid into his boyish, yearning voice from nervousness and inexperience as he crooned typical emo-lyrics, "We all need someone to say goodbye to, We all need someone to hold on to." The term "emo" music derives from the deep emotions emulated in the lyrics and mellow tunes. Generally this category is chastised as over exaggerated belly-aching. Though The Final Goodbye's music may fall into this whimpering, high-school daydreaming genre, his music is also sincere, somewhat unrefined, yet it resonates the emotional pull his voice demands.
Aside from the ranting, The Final Goodbye's presence and short, soft punk-rock anthems of longing were packed with potential. I can almost hear the polished instrumentation behind his soothing voice. Nothing worth jumping out of my seat for, but The Final Goodbye is definitely deserving of a second listening on a late afternoon drive.
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The Final Goodbye - Corey and Topanga
The Final Goodbye - Corey and Topanga
1 comment:
Alex, I always love your writing. I can picture this "concert" vividly. How embarrasing it must have been for him..for the "crowd" of 4 people.. When you wrote about the part when he asked a lot of pointless questions that didnt get responses, I almost peed myself. I can picture it exactly! I never understood why performers (especially coverbands, for example) feel like they need to have a weird dialogue expressing why that song is meaningful and at the same time trying to shout-out to random drunkies. Just sing, damnit. I think prof Boyd should give you extra credit for bearing this miserable performance. I know you said you would take a second listen, but I am not so forgiving.
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