Music is Life.

I can start this by saying that everytime I go to a show and at the end of it when I'm deciding how good it is, I compare every show to the best conert I have ever seen - Brand New and Thrice about two Decembers ago. Every concert is ranked against how incredibly amazing that show was, how into it the bands were and how I just lost myself in the music. Since that concert, some have come close to claiming top spot (Anberlin is sitting comfortably at number two best show...they were outstanding) but I can safely say that Brand New has outdone themselves.

Now I may be speaking with a bias, because Brand New is one of my two favorite bands so they would have to try to disappoint me, but I say that speaking without a bias, the show last night was phenomenal. They only had one support band - which I liked because I don't want to have to sit through four or five bands and set changes before getting to see who I came for. Their one support band, The Dear Hunter, was pretty enjoyable as far as liking bands I've never heard goes, but I get to them in a sec. The show was "short" by most concert standards, which stems from only having one support band, but I liked being able to go to a concert an hour away and still be home before midnight. Dear Hunter played for a half hour or so, Brand New played for about an hour and fifteen/hour and a half and that was that. I appreciated it.

So, The Dear Hunter, their sound was really good but what sold me about this band was how hilarious the lead singer was. Long story short, there were two in his words "fourteen year old girls who snuck a beer before coming" in the front area of the floor, standing by the stage who were pretty much just being obnoxious and yelling at them. The lead singer would have none of that, making sure that they (and everyone else) knew that he thought they were stupid and awkward and he wanted them to shut up (which he said pretty much between every song). Now, I have a sort of...mild hatred for people who make my concert experience less enjoyable (esp the group of people sitting in front of me last night and the fact a fight broke out next to me and I almost got elbowed in the face, but I digress) and the fact that this singer was just sticking it to the girls just made my night. So props to you, The Dear Hunter, for having a pretty sweet sound and for telling obnoxious girls whats up.

And then, there was Brand New (insert girly love-struck sigh here) what can I possibly say about Brand New? They started their show the same way they did last time I saw them, with the song "Welcome to Bangkok" now if you've never heard it please go enlighten yourself. It is a purely musical piece but it has SO much power to it that you'll be blown away (at least I was) they need three, that's right, THREE drummers to do this song. Now, if you've seen Brand New in concert you'll know that on some songs they have two drummers and they always have two drum kits up on stage for those occassions. But the percussion during "Welcome to Bangkok" is so intese they bring out a third guy to add to the intensity...I think I've used the word intese too much...oh well. But they seamlessly went from "Welcome to Bangkok" right into "Jaws Theme Swimming" which is a track from "Deja Entendu" (my favorite albulm) and the song was just...amazing (surprising? no.). Their set list was very well put together - a good blend of songs from all three CDs, although "The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me" got more play time, but as their newest CD that's to be expected. After playing for an hour or so, they said their fake "thank you, good night!"s and went backstage for a minute or two before Jesse came back by himself and started playing the intro to "Mix Tape" (insert girly "i love this song!" here) it was about this time when I was minding my own business and almost got hit in the face, but if I got hit in the face to "Mix Tape" the swelling probably would have gone down right away because that song was magic. (and there is my cliche for the day) So after "Mix Tape" was done there was a quick guitar swap from electric to accoustic electric and the other guitarist game out with nothing but a tambourine and Jess Lacey uttered the words both I and my father (who loves Brand New probably more than I do) were hoping for all night. "Let's Play Crack The Sky." Now, if you have never heard this song, I think it could be considered a sin. Listen to it. Right now if you want. But listen to it. I'll wait. (insert annoying elevator music here) Amazing right? Multiply that by like a thousand and that's seeing it live. Perfect end to an amazing show.

Congrats Brand New, you remain the top concert. I will continue to compare everyone else to you.

Oh, and there's just one more thing. You can't have an amazing concert without a decent rant thrown in somewhere. This concert was at the Ryan Center, which is at URI (University of Rhode Island for those who aren't acronym-savvy) so it was to be expected that the show would be filled with students. But the things that pissed me off was A) the amount of drunk people screaming and embarrasing themselves B) the amount of people just standing on the stairs no matter how many times the secruity told them to leave (and an extenstion on that...it was annoying how uneffective the staff was) and C) how the people in the row in front of us kept getting up and leaving from the middle of a crowded row about every five minutes. It's a concert people, sit down and enjoy the music or stand up and enjoy the music, just stay in your place. Thanks. Kgreat.

After my last couple of shows filled with tweens (that's another annoyance altogether) and bands who wear tighter pants than I do and croon every night joking about drinking and having sex to a crowd of 14 year old hormonal girls (don't get me wrong, I enjoy music of those bands i.e. The Maine and bands of that genre but the concerts kill me a little inside) this show was a welcome relief. There's nothing wrong with a band who rarely addresses the crowd and just focuses on playing music - because that's what it's about.

Music.

Music is Life.

Friday, March 6, 2009

So Here's The Skinny...

Brand New

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