Last night, Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional put on a surprise secret acoustic show at the relatively small Lake Worth bar, Propaganda, resulting in probably one of most intimate shows Carrabba has played in a long time.
Fans, South Florida fans especially, of Dashboard Confessional were disheartened when news that the upcoming tour with New Found Glory, another popular South Florida band, turned out to be cancelled. Reason being a “family situation”, as mentioned on the band’s Myspace.
“We don’t take this lightly but family has to come first. As this is a last minute development, we are still figuring out what we will do- as soon as we know, you will know. We apologize to everyone who planned on coming to the shows. We will find a way to make it up to you.” Carrabba stayed true to his word, and gave every Dashboard-fan a show that most would’ve killed for.
Prior to Sunday, you only would’ve been able to find about the secret show was via both thehoneycomb and Chris Carrabba’s Twitter pages. A few days before, Carrabba mentioned the possibility of playing a show in Lake Worth at one of the most well-known bars in the area, Propaganda. Two days later and the night before, thehoneycomb announced a secret show at Propaganda. Shouldn’t have been too hard to put two and two together.
Tickets were ten bucks and it was 18+, keeping out all the possible tweenage girls. Only about a hundred people made it inside the tightly-packed club, and didn’t take too long for things to become sweaty. Florida’s warm weather and humidity did not help the situation. After a fair performance by an opening act simply titled Alexander, fans waited in anticipation for the man of the night.
Chris Carrabba casually made his way through the wave of fans, as there was no backstage. The only way on-stage was through blocks of people conveniently blocking the stairs to get on. The hour-long set featured a variety of old gems, songs that Carrabba admits he forgot all about, and even brought lyrics on-stage with him for(which he actually did end up needing). Between songs, Carrabba encouraged fans to shout out requests. Of course, “Freebird!” was shouted every now and then.
Towards the end, fans realized they requested and shouted everything except for Dashboard’s two huge singles, “Screaming Infidelities” and “Vindicated”. After switching out his shiny six-string for one that had been standing idle for the entire show and showed much more age, Carrabba dived right into the opening chords of “Screaming Infidelities”. The noise level of the crowd definitely skyrocketed, especially to sing the memorable final lines, “Your hair is everywhere / Screaming infidelities”. Carrabba followed up with “Vindicated”, and gave Lake Worth one final song before leaving the stage.
On-stage, Carrabba mentioned how he brought no merch, but a hand so he could shake and meet everyone there, which probably was no problem for the fans. A band shirt in no way does what a handshake, hug, or small-chat with your favorite band.
