A great song doesn't just move you; it leaves deep cuts that can't be sewn back together. It flows inside your blood where when you hear it, you don't listen to it, but become a part of the song. Inside Chicago's Metro club, eleven-hundred voices shudder as they screech "You just have to see her" five times in a row. The band roars, the crowd wails and everyone voices break as they share a piece of their soul as the lyrics to "Sometime Around Midnight" escape from their lips. It's a transcendent moment in terms of performance from the Airborne Toxic Event, but it's an exorcism for the audience. This is a song that the sold-out crowd relates to; it's one that defines them. We've all pined for a lost love and when our paths unexpectedly cross, it sends out world into a whirlwind and to have someone craft these emotions so perfectly is something we can grasp and hold onto and the Airborne Toxic Event has mastered the craft of heartache and melancholy in song.

The Airborne Toxic Event hails from Los Angeles who beautifully blends rock n' roll that is delivered with the force of the Clash yet is as orchestral and majestic as a symphony. Any act can create one perfect tune and with "Sometime Around Midnight" the band did just that. A fierce and passionate song that builds and builds and builds into an emotional crescendo that is one of the most heart wrenching songs ever composed; and to think the song doesn't even have a chorus. Their self-titled debut had many other great songs but it's their latest album, All At Once that will make you stand up and take notice. At the second of two sold-out shows in Chicago, the material flowed seamlessly with the best songs from their debut. Sophomore records are usually complicated entries in one's discographies, but the Airborne Toxic Event raised their game here and created a far superior record even if it doesn't contain a song as awesomely sick as "Sometime Around Midnight"; alas it's like saying Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town doesn't have a song as triumphant as "Thunder Road" or "Born To Run". In concert, they channeled the best who have come before and even though the songs from All At Once don't need improvement, they are more instinctive and magnificent when performed live.

"All I Ever Wanted" opened the show with violinist Anna Bulbrook and Mikel Jollett's vocals giving their music a compelling cinematic effect. You close your eyes and let the lyrics invade you and mini movies appear out of nowhere. Lead singer and guitarist Mikel Jollett croons in a devilish demeanor. He hushes the verses and screams the choruses jolting the crowd to life. However, he's one person on the stage and the other four members surround the songs with panache. Drummer Daren Taylor drives the songs while Noah Harmon shuffles along giving that lean foundation. The real fireworks erupt with guitarist Steven Chen and violinist Anna Bulbrook tie their instrument's around the tugging lyrics with the ferocious and angelic amalgamation of their two instruments which harmonize the melodies beneath Jollett's vocals. Their sound is magnificent and barrels through your senses like a thief in the night.

The hook of "Gasoline" was burning with its alternate homage to the Ramones as they commenced the song after counting off "5, 6, 7, 8". The way the violin and guitar become one is almost indistinguishable as it leads the melody and practically overtaking the lyrics. The crowd leaped and clapped along to "Wishing Well" and the contagious chorus of "Changing" while the melodic buzz strum of "Numb" provided an adrenaline rush as Jollett delivered his lyrics with great relaxation and force. "All For A Woman" was delivered with great vocals and came off like a great forgotten Neil Diamond song. On "Something New" Jollett made his first of many entrances into the crowd where he tore down the wall between band and audience through more than the music. "The Kids Are Ready To Die" was performed in a revved up rocker, a 180-degree change from the prayer like version found on the record. Here it has a "Baba O'Riley" opening before it segued into "Welcome To Your Wedding Day". The Airborne Toxic Event attacks the crowd like a team of SEALS. They come prepared to not merely perform these songs so much as obliterate emotions from the stage. These two songs were especially impressive as violinist Bulbrook weaved sorrow and heartache through her fingers and strings. She's the secret weapon as her body movement, her violin and even when she stood behind the keyboards provided an indescribable moment of transcendence. All five members were impressive, but there was something exotic about the way Bulbrook could evoke memories from her past with a few notes on a violin and the shake of her head and hands which targeted our hearts.

The main set's penultimate song, "Sometime Around Midnight" is a colossal gem of a song where lost love and jealously reign supreme and the reaction from the crowd are as memorable as any moment at a concert can be. "Innocence" struts along in a slow echo before it transformed itself into a full tilt rocker. As the main set wound down, Mikel Jollett leapt into the air, the drums crunched and clashed behind and he exited stage right as he left his guitar on the floor where's it's distorted echo rang throughout the arena. The four song encore was rebellious yet alluring. "Does This Mean You're Moving On" found Jollett on his back crowd surfing through the crowd singing the song. "Missy" with its jaunty guitar chords is welcoming and pays homage to the last fifty years of music. The track expanded to nearly ten-minutes with full workouts of Springsteen's "I'm On Fire", Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" and a roaring "I Fought The Law" before the band culminated with "Missy" once again.

The evening came to a close with the surprisingly effective version of "All At Once". One couldn't have imagined the band forcefully capping an evening with the same passion with which they arrived on stage but "All At Once" features intrinsic melodies on guitar and violin that are impossible to deny. Chen and Bulbrook capture the melodies the same way Judas Priest and Iron Maiden execute theirs on dueling guitars. There's a reason they sold-out two shows in Chicago, their stage presence is unquestionable and don't be surprised if you see them playing much larger stages before too long. There is magic on the concert stage; all five members are essential to the magic of their music. While certain elements may seep to the forefront, the talents of all five become apparent in concert which is why the Airborne Toxic Event is a must-see concert event. This is a band with more than a few good song, they're a band in the truest sense of the form where they come into battle together as one. Their combined presence won't just impress you, it will move you.