Shout Out Louds Receive a Hollywood Ending

Posted on Nov 7th 2007 7:00PM by Mike Spinella
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Shout Out Louds and friends have been chronicling their Stateside tour for Spinner over the past few weeks. This post marks the end of the band's run. After some misfortune, good food and great gigs, the trio of bands -- SOLs, Johnossi and Nico Vega -- got a proper Hollywood ending.

Last night's Shout Out Louds tour finale at the Music Box at Fonda in Los Angeles was everything you want out of a tour closer: great performances, a full house and your own bed at the end of it all. No bus call and no travel also rank high on the list after time on the road. A Hollywood finish seemed fitting for this North American tour that included tour bus troubles, Canada, truck stops and special appearances throughout.

The Music Box at Fonda sits in the shadows of the Capitol Records building on Hollywood Blvd., and the night kicked off with a rooftop pre-party with Indie 103.1 FM's Darren Revell spinning Big Sonic Heaven songs, before Johnossi took the stage and delivered maybe their best set of music of all their sets on the tour. John took the California weather to heart during 'Santa Monica Bay,' and ripped off his shirt and showered the stage with spit storms over and over again. It was the kind of set that is going to make the long plane flight back to Sweden much easier to take.

Hometown heroes Nico Vega followed, and had the L.A .crowd firmly in their pockets. Aja's commanding onstage persona entertained the legions of Vega fans there to see how tight the band has gotten after their first national tour. DJ Daisy O graced everyone from above in the alcove throughout the evening.

Headliner time, and who didn't cheer and shout out loud when the Swedes began their final performance of the "Our Ill Wills' tour. Pulling out energy from heaven knows where, the set was blistering and even had a visit from the Pogues during the encore. 'Impossible' and 'South America' sounded amazing. The place poured onto the rooftop for DJ sets by Kid Millionaire Steve Aoki and Myles Hendrick from Bloodcat Love.

The end of a tour can be very sentimental, as it represents a moment in time -- and captures artists playing a certain set of music around a particular release -- that will never be repeated in this manner ever again. A bittersweet evening that I'm sure will make for some good hangovers this week.

-Larry Little on the Shout Out Louds, Johnossi and Nico Vega tour, presented by TankFarm Future Sounds

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