Yellowcard

Yellowcard belongs to the very exclusive club of emo-leaning pop-punk bands named after soccer violations that prominently feature a violinist who does onstage back flips. Gymnastics aside, though, the presence of Sean Mackin (the Itzhak Perlman of the Warped Tour set) is hardly a gimmick; his adroit bow-handling adds buckets...

By Michael Alan Goldberg

November 18, 2004

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Yellowcard belongs to the very exclusive club of emo-leaning pop-punk bands named after soccer violations that prominently feature a violinist who does onstage back flips. Gymnastics aside, though, the presence of Sean Mackin (the Itzhak Perlman of the Warped Tour set) is hardly a gimmick; his adroit bow-handling adds buckets of texture and depth to the California-via-Florida quintet's somewhat formulaic crunch guitaring, whip-snap drumming, and semi-snotty singing. Ain't no doubt the kids are eating it up -- Yellowcard is still getting mileage out of smash single "Ocean Avenue," the nostalgia-laden title track from last year's major-label debut. But if entertaining the masses isn't enough public service, the band has also given hope to all those long-suffering orchestra nerds that they, too, can be rock stars someday. And for that they must be saluted.

Also on the bill are like-minded acts the Starting Line, Days Away, and HeyMike, all of which are considering adding a flugelhorn player who does cartwheels.

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