At the Croatian Cultural Centre on Monday, April 3

When a band like Thursday rolls into town, it's expected that there will be a night of raucous fury that will get the legions of emo kids blogging for weeks. Unfortunately, Thursday's performance at the Croatian Cultural Centre last Monday was so underwhelming, it barely deserves reviewing.

It wasn't entirely the post-hardcore six-piece's fault. The Croatian Cultural Centre really isn't known as the best live-music venue in Vancouver. Sure, it's big and all-ages, but it's a giant echoing cavern more suited to speeches than music. The mixing was also subpar, drowning out Geoff Rickley's vocals in favour of the kick and snare of the drums pounding alongside the rhythm guitar at earsplitting levels. This was a problem not just during Thursday's set, either; opening bands We.re All Broken and Minus the Bear had similar problems.

Unfortunately, the boys from New Brunswick, New Jersey, never seemed to show much energy. The basic "move forward, bob your head, do a little spin with your guitar, step back, and rest for a moment" seemed like a giant cliché. The only moments that made the band semi-entertaining were when Rickley tried to dance.

The opening acts also lacked any sort of stage presence. Minus the Bear was the better of the two, but its performance was mediocre at best. All in all, just plain dull.

The crowd was happy, though- at least, those who weren't leaning against the wall or sitting on the ground. Still, even though the band only spent a maximum of 60 seconds off-stage before its encore, the audience was thin by the end. People also seemed adamant on performing every show faux pas that exists, including but not confined to throwing open water bottles indoors and clapping grossly offbeat with the song.

Thursday gave as bad as it got. The stage banter was almost sad; all they really had to say was "We love being back in Canada" and "Give it up for [insert opening band's name here]." The one exception was when they announced a birthday. Then they said, "Get in your birthday suit." Hilarious, guys.