Never in my life have I had to get to a show at 6:30 to see the opening band. Ever. But such was the case when Paper Route opened up the night for Vancouver band Lights and Postal Service rip-off Owl City. Honestly, the only cool thing about Owl City is that they have Owl in the name. That’s it.

I guess the reason for the early start time was the ‘target market’ of Owl Citys fans. I’d say it’s about 14. Which is quite interesting considering all the second hand pot smoke I inhaled at the back of the venue. It must have been the respective parents, needing to get baked in order to sit through another pop-show that their pre-tween MUST SEE.

I’ve been a Paper Route fanboy since I first heard their full length LP, Absence last year. It’s a strong album that hasn’t gotten old in 8 months, while most albums I get my hands on have a shelf life of about 3 weeks.

Limited to 30 minutes, Paper Route still managed to win a crowd over of mostly young females. Easy to do when you got 5 dudes rocking different instruments for every song. Definitely the highlight of the night was PR, as I stuck it out 15 minutes into Lights set and decided I needed to be around some adults, and left. (I later returned at closing time to get my Fillmore poster though!)

Paper Route is one of those dedicated bands that have been around awhile, paying their dues on the road with to many bands to name. Most notably their last tour when they did an America AND International tour with Paramore.

It’s quite an amazing thing to see a band that’s been around for years make it to the level where they’re playing to a sold out Fillmore crowd, even if the average attendee isn’t old enough to buy porn. Hopefully next time venues around the US will recognize that Paper Route can draw well on their own, and shouldn’t be playing 2nd or 3rd to acts with little musical talent and “time served” in the music business – by building a loyal following.

Peep all the pictures of the Paper Route show here.

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