I didn’t realize how early of a show Sunday night at Paradise was going to be, so I accidentally missed Crying and Somos, two killer bands opening Modern Baseball‘s headlining tour. Pop-punk kids have early bedtimes it seems.

I walked in as Foxing were setting up, and as soon as they started playing it was an emotional roller coaster. Watching each member move around on stage was like watching a beautiful choreography performed by marionettes: they moved as if strings were tied to the ends of their guitars and microphones, and some invisible puppet master was pulling them up and out and all around the stage. This St. Louis, MO band is heating up, and the crowd at The Dise Sunday night was well ahead of the curve; they sang along to every song. In fact, when the crowd lent their vocals, it made some of their songs sound that much better, like “Rory ,” off of their latest album, The Albatross, where the song simply opens with lead singer/ trumpet player Conor Murphy’s earnest vocals. It was a cool feeling, being aware that we were all singing lines like, “I swear I’m a good man / so why don’t you love me back?” for each other, as well as for our own deeply personal reasons.

Knuckle Puck was the last opener, and brought out a different, more pop-punk side of this post-hardcore vibe going on. Another Midwest group on this tour, Knuckle Puck wasted no time playing their newest stuff, like songs from While I Stay Secluded, which was just released in October. The way drummer John Siorek pounded the ands of every beat kept the crowd thrashing and surfing. As people descended from the top of the crowd, folks in the front row gave them high-fives.

Modern Baseball is part of a new niche in the pop punk scene: it’s emo indie punk that you can almost exclusively excavate from the Tri-state area. Basements and warehouse venues in Philly and New Jersey have become this sort of breeding ground for a new blend of dance-able, relate-able, lazy punk rock (a la The Front Bottoms, The World Is a Beautiful Place and I am No Longer Afraid to Die, Tigers Jaw, etc). The vocals have a monotonous tinge, but the drums are tight and the lyrics are brutally honest.

When the crowd shouted “Aw c’mon!” during “Tears Over Beers,” it’s almost as if the story in the lyrics prompted it organically and it didn’t even need to be written out in the liner notes of Modern Baseball’s 2012 album Sports for people to know what to say. It’s the first-person perspective of their songs that captivates their audiences. Songs from their latest release, You’re Gonna Miss It All, (off of Boston-based label Run for Cover Records) are like pages from a diary, with lines that speak to so many of us, like, “Tryin’ hard not to look like I’m trying that hard,” (from “Two Good Things”) and,”I’m pretty good at feeling sorry for myself” (from “Charlie Black”).

The only awkward part was seeing the “VIP” Modern Baseball fans crammed into the corner of the stage during their set. They looked uncomfortable, out there suppressing their desire to show how much they were enjoying the show because everyone could see them up there with the band. I guess that’s what you pay for?

I was a little disappointed to see that drummer Sean Huber didn’t have a microphone back there with his kit, but then he ended up grabbing someone to take over drums so he  could launch himself into the crowd during his verse in “Your Graduation.” Also, Cam Boucher from Sorority Noise joined them on stage during their set, providing a really solid line of guitar and bass and stage antics.

Ian Farmer, bassist, announced that a member of Bowling for Soup was in the audience that night (In hindsight, this could have totally been a lie, since this was neither confirmed nor denied…), so part-time singer, part-time guitarist Jacob Ewald changed a line from “Two Good Things” to “…Not feeling lonely, I just like… Bowling for Soup.”

I almost expected a Bowling for Soup cover, and heard rumors that Modern Baseball was doing a cover on this tour, but when they came back for the encore, it was Farmer on lead vocals, channeling Brandon Flowers, in a surprisingly professional rendition of “When Your Were Young.” These friends from Philly –some of whom are still finishing college –managed to sell out The Dise on Sunday, and had fun all the way til the end, when they gave each other piggyback rides off the stage. <3