Panic at the Disco - ...Live in Chicago (2008)

I didn't hear any gunshots for added percussion so who the fuck knows if this concert actually took place in Chicago or not.

If you've been reading my last few reviews of their releases, you'll know I'm actually a pretty big fan of their first two studio releases due to their creativity, talent, and overall songwriting, but you'll also know that the band (at least up to this point) can be a wildcard, with the first half of "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out" being electronic-rock, and the latter half taking influence from baroque-pop, and their previous release before this, "Pretty. Odd." being a love-letter to folk and classic rock music in the same vein as the Beatles and the Beach Boys. That being said, when I heard they released a live album containing music from both albums, I was puzzled because "That must've been one bipolar show" and was afraid it wouldn't mesh well to go from synthesizers to acoustic instruments back and forth from song to song.

Well.. It's interesting. The songs from "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out" are reworked to be significantly more guitar-based with no love for synthesizers at all, which, if that sounds like a disappointing time to you, given how if you're checking out this review, you've likely grown to love those songs, then just know it IS actually a fucking disappointing time. "Time to Dance" in particular ain't really a good tune when you, I don't know, strip the song of everything that made it musically appealing in the first place? That's just a hunch on my part, ain't like I know anything about music or any shit like that. That being said, also a bit disappointing is the fact that while you can excuse songs from "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out" being a bit lackluster live, due to how they've been rearranged and relatively stripped-down, songs off of "Pretty. Odd." rarely flourish and explode with psychedelic nature like the studio versions, and while that can be expected by some bands, when you put out a record as gorgeous as that one, you better know how to perform it live, and fully. I mean, just listen to "Mad as Rabbits" off of this live album.. NO FUCKING HORNS!! That was a HUGE part of that song!! God..

Something a bit concerning and also almost funny to note is that vocalist Brendon Urie does a great job at points, and at other points, seems to rely heavily on guitarist Ryan Ross to sing in his place and/or provide backing vocals, and since Ryan Ross is also talking to the audience in between songs, playing (at times stellar) guitar while singing, and he also has the credit of having written most of the band's material musically and lyrically.. Who is the REAL frontman here?! Is it Brendon Urie or Ryan Ross?! Could the band hypothetically have succeeded without Brendon Urie when Ryan Ross has more talent in him than the average young musician? Who knows...

The bonus tracks are alternate versions of songs from "Pretty. Odd." that're nothing to write home about, unless you want to tell your family about how God must've intervened on them releasing a potentially awful version of "The Piano Knows Something I Don't", and that'd just be oddly specific, wouldn't it? Your mom's writing to you about "I hope this letter reaches you in time, I've just received word that the cancer has spread to my lungs, and.." and then you write back with "Yeah but have you HEARD how shitty "The Piano Knows Something I Don't" could've been?! Absolute madmen!!"

6/10
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