Here's a review (and photo) by Amanda Schurr, events editor/arts writer for Creative Loafing Sarasota.

Honda Civic Tour: Panic at the Disco w/Motion City Soundtrack/The Hush Sound/Phantom Planet, 7 p.m. Tues., April 22, Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater

By the time I got to Clearwater for the corporate fun fest Honda Civic Tour, I’d already missed Phantom Planet, those “Cal-i-FORN-YA” crooners who once called actor Jason Schwartzman a band member. Drat. That was the only opener for the Panic-headlining bill I was curious about, and I was still two bands out before the Las Vegas dreamo quartet (A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out) and unfortunate-for-them Pete Wentz “discovery” would go on.

Hordes of teens, custodial units, and the occasional beer drinker were trickling into Ruth Eckerd Hall to catch second act, The Hush Sound. A promising Illinois (and fellow Wentz find) foursome whose Donny-and-Marie duo, Bob Morris and Greta Salpeter, worked the frenzied crowd with Afterschool Special aplomb. Singer/pianist Salpeter’s dulcet pipes brought to mind The Sundays’ Harriet Wheeler, all quirky pop affect and head-bobbing fun. The kids ate it up, but never more so than when hottie Panic frontman Brendon Urie snuck out to sing a refrain.

Minneapolis’ Motion City Soundtrack was next, tearing through the kind of nondescript “indie” power pop that adolescents feel cool listening to and parents don’t find threatening. I was mesmerized by Moog synth player Jesse Johnson’s ass-tingling charisma. His hair buzzed close except for a long swatch in the middle, perfect for tossing about dramatically, he’d plunk down a few notes and then flail over his keyboard as though he was giving himself a spinal tap. “Here’s a new song,” introduced lead singer Justin Pierre, sporting a wonky white-boy afro. “It’s kinda sad… but totally happy.” Cue the patented Blink 182-styled vocals, straight-up major key harmonies, and ferosh four-chord rhythm guitar formula. Terribly earnest, competently performed, perfectly inoffensive (even with the occasional F-bomb), utterly forgettable.

This article appears in Apr 23-29, 2008.