The final night of any tour is always special and that was absolutely the case when Motion City Soundtrack and Say Anything brought their coheadliner to Marquee Theatre this week. The two longtime friends were joined by Oso Oso, packing the house for one of the last shows of 2025 for many fans in the Valley.
Oso Oso made the perfect openers for this tour, bringing their East Coast rock to Tempe. They’re fan favorites in Arizona, already drawing a steady crowd for their early set time and giving everything they had left to “Basking in the Glow”, “Pensacola” and more. The band had plenty of energy to spare for their final show of 2025 and set the stage for the rest of the night.
It’s been just long enough since Say Anything has been back to Arizona that the fans were hanging off the barricade to get even that much closer to Max Bemis’ magnetic presence. The band is on the cusp of some major milestones (including the upcoming 20 year anniversary of a staple album) but they perform with a cohesion and joy that belied those two decades of history. Each song had the whole room singing along and they even pulled out some true classics like “Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too” and “Alive With the Glory of Love”. Despite Bemis’ end of tour illness, his vocals carried the raw power and emotion the band is known for and that the fans have clearly been craving since their last appearance in Phoenix.
Dare we say it- Motion City Soundtrack is better than ever on this 2025 winter tour. After experiencing setbacks with various health issues in recent years, singer Justin Courtney Pierre practically bounced around Marquee’s stage during their performance and the band’s obvious elation at bringing their new album to life was evident. At this point, the theatre was packed with fans pressing just a little bit closer to get the full experience as the band lit up the room with intense shades of blue and red light.
Every song from My Dinosaur Life was met with huge cheers and that energy carried into the band’s new material as well. “Particle Physics” took the room right into the future while still calling back to the band’s stellar discography. The hits also made an appearance, with the fans carrying “L.G. FUAD” and screaming the key change in “A Lifeless Ordinary (Need a Little Help)”. It was a jubilant set, full of moments passed from the kids clamoring for more on the barricade to the older fans reliving pivotal life moments to Motion City’s soundtrack. The night came to a very reluctant close with “Everything is Alright” and “The Future Freaks Me Out”- and while both of those sentiments might be true, the future also includes the return of MCS to the Valley and that means that everything is indeed alright.
