JM is my favorite band. Something Corporate used to be. I feel inclined to review the band Jack's Mannequin or its frontman Andrew McMahon. But I will try my best to stick to the show:
When a person, at least myself, knows her favorite band is disbanding and is given a date for the final show, she works and works and sets alarms to get tickets to a concert out of state. Despite the disappointment of the 11/11 show selling out to scalpers within seconds, I kept trying. I finally got my ticket! I took the trip from Chicago to L.A. I am not alone in this. Fans from all over the country gathered in the beautiful El Rey Theater for this final event. Perhaps its the bias of loving everything about this band and its music, but to say the show was anything less than amazing would be wrong.
For the most part, the fans were amazing. I had a drunk group of girls behind me who were upset when their buzz was wearing off, and a girl who did not look up from her phone once for more than 3 seconds to ask her friend if she could see. The sweaty man in front of me filming the entire show annoyed me most when he was drunk enough to NEED to lean on the people around him so that he didn't end up on the floor. But all the other fans were great, jumping and singing along with one another in unison.
It was upsetting to know that the band was saying goodbye, but it was uplifting to know of the thousands of dollars raised for the Dear Jack Foundation, and to also know that just because this particular band was coming to an end, the funding for cancer would not.
All the favorites were played, from all 3 albums. We heard songs that were hard to play, both emotionally and physically, for Andrew. Dr Jay, a JM original member, came back for the night.
In all, this show was AMazing. I cannot wait to see Andrew McMahon perform in the next chapter of his talented, inspirational life.