The Academy Is... headlines Alternative Press Fall Ball Tour at The Fillmore at Irving Plaza

This past Wednesday the Alternative Press (AP) Fall Ball Tour made its stop in New York City at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza. The Fall Ball Tour had six bands performing each night featuring You Me At Six, The Secret Handshake, Set Your Goals, Mayday Parade and The Academy Is…

There was a large amount of diversity in the line up. Each band is from a distinct geographical location, which brought different sounds and music styles of rock to the tour.

Opening British band You Me At Six performed a cover of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face." Fans joined in and sang along as lead singer Josh Franceschi did a fairly good job with his vocals for the song. Performing their hit song "Save It for the Bedroom," fans sang along with Franceschi, singing the lyrics, "Too far, save it for the bedroom."

Although the band gave a good performance Franceschi did note the fact that bass guitarist Chris Miller had ten stitches on his back and still gave the best performance he could.

Franceschi's vocals sang along to the bands pop-rock sound, but from time to time deep hardcore roars and growls could be heard coming from the singer. You Me At Six were fairly well known amongst the crowd and were a good opener to wake up the crowd and get them ready for the rest of the evening.

From Dallas, Tex. adding southern flavor to the lineup was The Secret Handshake. The band uses auto-tune, synthesizers and other electronically enhanced instruments, especially electric keyboards.

They performed hit songs including "Summer of '98," "TGIF" and "Saturday." With an electro-pop sound, singer Luis Dubuc showed high energy has he paced back and forth and hopped about on stage. Ending with a cover of Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA," Dubuc had the entire audience singing along.

Up next was California's Set Your Goals who had an interesting opening to their set. All of the band players were dressed as if they were attending a prom. Performing various songs off their latest album This Will Be the Death of Us, fans enjoyed their set by crowd surfing and moshing.

Fan favorite song "Gaia Bleeds (Make way for Man)" intensified the mosh pit even more and had fans going crazy with the support of fast paced drums and heavy guitar riffs.

Hailing from Tallahassee, Fla. alternative rock band Mayday Parade performed songs from their newly released album Anywhere But Here. To satisfy long term fans they also performed songs from their previous album A Lesson in Romantics, including hits such as "When I Get Home You're So Dead," "Jersey" and "Miserable at Best."

Mayday Parade gave a superb set. With risers on both sides of the stage, members ran around constantly changing positions, making for never a dull moment.

Chicago Ill. natives and headliners The Academy Is…performed a wide variety of songs, both old and new. As they took the stage at the beginning of their set, frontman William Beckett graced the stage as a modern day Mick Jagger with his smooth dancing and occasional sexual innuendo moves that had female fans going wild.

Opening song "Almost Here," had long time fans recalling their memories of when they first heard the single years ago. The band performed from all of their releases that night: Almost Here, Santi, Fast Times at Barrington High and their latest EP Lost in Pacific Time: AP/EP.

Later on in the set, Beckett quieted the crowd by placing his index finger over his lips and began to sing the opening to "Attention."

"We've Got a Big Mess on Our Hands" had a very prominent opening that gave the audience goose bumps before Beckett took the microphone and sang his heart out. Beckett leapt from the drum riser onto the floor and remained kneeling on the ground when he screamed the closing lyrics, "When it all comes crashing…"

Beckett gave a very heart felt speech to the crowd and said, "What hasn't changed is that we keep coming back. You're one of the best crowds in the country."

The Academy Is…then performed "Sputter," a song co-written with Andrew McMahon of Jack's Mannequin. Before the song was performed, Beckett recalled how they met with McMahon in California and how they sat and wrote the song together.

There was no doubt that there was a mutual love between the bands and the New York City audience. All of the bands gave their best performances.

Despite their differences, they all kept the showing going and at the end they had the audience begging for more.