Timeflies: The Greatest Show on Earth (even when you are by yourself)

On Tuesday evening, I had the pleasure of seeing Timeflies for the third time, and second time in the past three months.

Timeflies is a duo consisting of Rob “Rez” Resnick, who handles the majority of the producing, and Cal Shapiro, who handles all the vocal work. The electric/hip-hop/pop duo just released their debut album After Hours on April 29. The show I just saw was a part of their After Hours Tour, where most of their venues they perform at are on college campuses.

This show on Tuesday was at the Orpheum Theater on State Street and it will probably go down as the most memorable of the three, but not for the reasons you would think.

The concert started out as normal. My buddies and I had a short wait outside in the rain and proceeded to go inside, take a pre-concert bathroom break, and find our spots on the floor in front of the stage.

If I recall correctly, it was about 7:30 P.M. when the first opening act came out. They were a band that called themselves Down With Webster and I would describe them as an “emo rap band.” If I am just being honest, they were not good. Down With Webster was followed by a DJ who called himself Kap Slap, who was good, but simply played numerous mixes of popular radio hits.

Finally, it was time for the main act. After about five minutes of flashing lights, Cal and Rez show up on stage and just about instantly beginning singing their biggest hit to date, “All the Way.” One of my favorite songs, “All the Way” is simply the perfect party song to dance to and I don’t think it will ever get old. The song ends, the crowd is hyped, and the show is well underway. But then, out of nowhere, I get this text message: 

Wow. One of my friends had been wrongly charged with throwing a beer can that he had never even possessed, as he was planning on driving home that night.

The reason I didn’t see any of this happen was because we had kind of gotten pushed around, and I was momentarily a person or two away from my other friends. So, when the incident happened, they all ended up leaving together.

So, yes. I was by myself.

What did I do? I decided to make the best of the situation. There were two girls in front of me, so I asked them, “Hey my friends left, do you want to be friends?” They were happy to accommodate and we exchanged hellos. The concert resumed.

Timeflies went on to spend the first half of their setlist playing a lot of their earlier songs, which included a few from their 2011 LP, The Scotch Tape, and a couple of their remixes from their famous weekly YouTube videos known as “Timeflies Tuesday.” These included remixes of songs from “Wagon Wheel” to “Party in the U.S.A.” to their most popular remix, “Under the Sea.” The girls and I were jamming and having a ball as the duo was killing every single song.

It was then after one of the songs when Cal screamed to the large crowd, “Who in here is still in high school?”

There weren’t many screams. In fact, there were mostly boos from the college students. But, here and there, there were a few proud screams from high school students. Two of those screams just so happened to come form right in front of me.

Yes. Those two girls I had just become great friends with happened to be two high school students. I kept my distance to avoid any further consequences.

Now, alone again, the concert hall was getting too warm for my liking and the people just kept pushing forward. So, what do I do? I take off my sweater I was wearing and tie it around my waist of course. I figured I no longer had anyone to impress and that looking like a dweeb with a sweater tied around his waist was the least of my concerns. Finally comfortable and officially lonely, the concert continued.

After playing majority of their old stuff, Cal decided to do what he is known best for: “freestyling.” Projected on the screens behind him were various topics that all had to do with our university. These topics were ranging from Bo Ryan to Melvin Gordon to cheese curds to the terrace. He pretty much covered every aspect of Wisconsin and the most impressive part was that he did it all off of the top of his head.

After the freestyle, Cal and Rez transitioned into playing their newest material from their latest album. They played all their biggest hits from the record besides my favorite song, Ride (they couldn’t even play the lonely kid’s favorite song), and the show was an absolute party.

Being in the city of Madison made the show even more of a party. In fact, at one point during, Cal said to the crowd, “Right now my only regret is not going to school here.”

They ended the show playing their hit “All the Way” for a second time, and everybody was happy they did. Honestly, they could play that song six times in a row and I would still love it every single time.

I look at a Timeflies concert more as a party than a concert. Whenever you go to one, you are always guaranteed to have a great time, and this show was no different. From start to finish the two guys keep you jumping up and down and singing along to party hit after party hit.

If you haven’t taken the time to go to a Timeflies concert, I highly recommend you do. They will always give you the best show you could ask for, even if you end up like me, chilling by yourself behind two high school girls with a striped sweater tied around your waist.