The AP Tour Wraps Up In Cleveland

May 10th, 2010

Grant Trimboli

This spring’s Rockstar Energy Drink AP Tour had its grand finale last night at the House Of Blues in AP’s hometown of Cleveland. In what has become a tradition for the final show of the run, it was an evening filled with surprises, guest performances and pranks.

Opening act the Summer Set kicked things off and the mayhem quickly started: The Cab’s Alex DeLeon joined them for a song; seats from the band’s van were brought out onstage; and the entire tour lineup crashed the stage during the Summer Set’s Taylor Swift cover. The Summer Set also ended their performance by saying it would be their last show in a while and that each member would be going to college. This, however, was just a joke.

Every Avenue had probably their most lively performance of the tour and members were taped together mid-song. Brian Dales of the Summer Set also provided guest vocals during EA’s last song as frontman Dave Strauchman jumped into the audience for crowd surfing.

The Cab instigated the first mosh pit of the night and also were surprised by members of the Summer Set slow dancing during a mellow number. The Summer Set guitarist John Gomez also decided to eat his dinner on top of Alex Marshall’s keyboard.

Hey Monday were relatively exempt from the pranks except for a moment where members were temporarily layered in plastic wrap by members of Every Avenue and the Summer Set.

After their set, the curtain was closed for the first time during the evening in anticipation for Never Shout Never, but when they again opened, members of the Maine were seated for a surprise five-song acoustic performance.

When Never Shout Never finally took the stage, confetti fell from the rafters and frontman Christofer Drew proclaimed that each song would be dedicated and renamed in honor of their merch guy, Nick, renaming songs like “Jane Doe” to “Nick Doe” and “I Love You” to “I Love Nick.” In addition to a cover of the Beatles’ “Across The Universe,” NSN brought the crowd to a frenzy as the entire tour joined them for their finale.

This year’s tour was a massive success, selling out nearly every date and seeing guest performances from the likes of We The Kings, Cartel, the Maine, There For Tomorrow and even the first performance of Chiodos with new frontman Brandon Bolmer. You can check out photos and videos from the entire tour here and we’ll be bringing you photos and video from last night’s show very soon.

Thank you all for another great tour!