Live Review: Alkaline Trio @ Paradise Rock Club, 8/11/11

Halfway through the set, when Matt Skiba changed his electric guitar for an acoustic, the singer-songwriter for the band Alkaline Trio proclaimed he was in love. "I met the most amazing woman!" he yells, and then dedicates "Clavicle" to said woman. It was one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

Err... let's try that again.

Through all my years of enjoying traditional pop-punk bands, it's almost startling to reveal that I have never seen Chicago's famed Alkaline Trio. Singer-guitarist Matt Skiba has had my attention since the Asian Man Records days and the track "Goodbye Forever," and it seemed that they just didn't come to the area much. For the third or fourth time this year, I reverted to a high-school freshmen part of myself that I didn't know still existed.

This was truly a show for the band's longtime fans, as the room screamed with delight to Skiba's strumming the chords of Godammit! opener "Cringe." Many songs played were from the early part of their career, when Skiba's lyrics which much more playful ("Mr. Chainsaw," "Nose Over Tail" and "Old English 800.") Bassist and singer Dan Adriano got to showoff his excellent songwriting skills with "In Vein" and (arguably my favorite Alk3 song0 "Blue Carolina." Skiba and Adriano perfectly play their often-dramatic songs with the same passion and theatrics put into them. With this year marking the band's 15 year anniversary, here's hope that the guys have it in them to put out another album.

Setlist:

Cringe/In Vein/Private Eye/Nose Over Tail/Goodbye Forever/I Lied My Face Off/Old School Reasons/Mr. Chainsaw/Maybe I'll Catch Fire/Blue Carolina/Mercy Me/San Francisco/This Could Be Love/If You Had A Bad Time/Clavicle/You've Got So Far To Go/Blue In The Face/Old English 800/Radio

Encore: My Friend Peter/Crawl/'97

Live Review: Against Me! @ Paradise Rock Club, 6/9/11

Most times when I attend a show by myself, I like to think of myself as a modern day Kerouac - wearing plaid, talking to myself in prose, drinking cheap beer out of a paper bag, and just sortof letting those bohemians on stage pour their emotions while I take it in all sweating and Beatific and whatnot. Let's just say that seeing Against Me! is not anything like that.

Not that it couldn't be, though - as singer/songwriter Tom Gabel has always written politically charged and/or socially conscious pop punk that could totally breed the type of fan that goes to these shows to just scream the lyrics and 'experience' the music. Deciding that it was best to put myself in the latter category this evening, I entered the all ages show shortly before the main attraction took the stage.

I didn't think much of the 'All Ages' addendum to the familiar sign outside of the club until I walked in - "'All ages'? Does that mean I'm going to be fighting off twelve year olds? Do twelve year old kids go to shows or just watch stuff on YouTube? Do the real punks come to hear 'Pints of Guinness Make You Strong' and then leave?" Mind racing, I grabbed two beers and shouldered through the crowd.



Without much delay (and a really excitable roadie who checked mics by yelling 'YEEEAAAHHH BUDDY'), the band walked out waving, smiling and murdered out in all black. Thankfully wasting no time, they charged into the favorite 'Cliché Guevara' much to the delight of your author and everyone around me. This is a pivotal moment at a punk show - everyone hears that first chord (that could be about 8 of that band's songs) and a rush, a push, and a mosh pit. Fortunately, that broke out on the other side of the pole from me and I just swayed with the crowd as they plowed through 'Pints of Guinness Make You Strong,' 'From Her Lips To God's Ears (The Energizer),' and 'New Wave.' Thanks to major label money(Sire), the guys had great equipment that made Jay Weinberg's (yes, he is Max Weinberg's son) pounding drumming balance perfectly with Andrew Seward's low-end. That duo, I must say, also really likes being in this band - as they sang along with Gabel on every single song and made really intense, 'dude-I'm-totally-killing' expressions. Punk rock, bro.

We didn't get much banter from Gabel, as they paused only once or twice to switch guitars/take swigs/say that Boston effing rocks. I really wanted to hear Gabel open up a bit, as being in 'all-business' mode isn't too fitting for a pop-punk band. The band did charge through a variety of their best material however, including 'Rapid Decompression,' 'T.S.R.' and 2005's Searching For A Former Clarity highlight 'Miami.'

The crowd screamed along and got rowdy, which is great unless you're a bro trying to protect his girl, yo. Usually I don't care about other people at these things, but this one bro started some stuff with other bros who were 'just tryin to have a good time, man' and yours truly wound up in the middle of it, prying bros off of each other. Two of them were kicked out when security came over, and a third bro thought it would be fun to cuss out the bouncer and try to tackle him. He was shown his way out as well.

Thankfully the band soldiered on and rounded out their raucous set with the sing-alongs 'Turn Those Clapping Hands Into Angry Balled Fists,' 'Sink, Florida, Sink' and 'Thrash Unreal.' With just a 'thank you,' Gabel and crew waved and walked off, waited for five minutes to make us all want it, and graciously came out thanking us all once more. "Here's the Clash," said Gabel so nonchalantly that no one really knew what was going on until the familiar snare and bass of 'Janie Jones.' Of course I incorrectly felt as if they played this just for me and I was the only one screaming every word - but isn't that the reason we all go to concerts? Following this was 'Baby, I'm An Anarchist' and one of the best endings to a punk album, the title track 'Searching For A Former Clarity.' I decided that this was the zenith of the evening and set off (even though they did do one more - 'We Laugh At Danger') down the hallway only to find the bros that got kicked out waiting outside the club, most likely to get their revenge or something. Goddamn it, punks, can't we all just grow up and not have to make every show a pissing contest?

SETLIST

Cliche Guevara/Pints Of Guinness Make You Strong/From Her Lips To Gods Ears (The Energizer)/New Wave/White Crosses/Russian Spies/Don't Lose Touch/Violence

Miami/Because Of The Shame/Walking Is Still Honest/White People For Peace
I Was A Teenage Anarchist/Tonight We'll Give It 35%/Americans Abroad/Rice & Bread
Reinventing Axl Rose/Rapid Decompression/You Look Like I Need A Drink/Turn Those Clapping Hands.../T.S.R./Slurring The Rhythms/Sink, Florida, Sink/Thrash Unreal

Encore:
Janie Jones (The Clash)/Baby, I'm An Anarchist

Searching For A Former Clarity/We Laugh At Danger...

(More crappy iPhone pics)

Live Review: Death Cab For Cutie @ Paradise Rock Club, 6/5/11

When I first heard about Death Cab For Cutie playing the Paradise a few months back, I actually thought that there was a mistake on the Live Nation listing. 'Death Cab For Cutie at the Paradise!?' was the reaction verbatim, in fact. A major label band with a huge fanbase playing at a 700 capacity 'you've kinda made it' venue? Unheard of. After doing a little more research, I found out it was no mistake and that the band was touring a number of smaller venues up the East Coast. I tried to equate this to another band in a past and similar situation as I stood in line on the mild Boston night.

Nobody seemed to be drunk enough (or sober anymore) after a line like that, as cutting through the beyond sold out audience was almost stressful. But when the lights cut and everyone starts screaming, suddenly there's more room and everyone is happy - it's a beautiful thing.

Ben Gibbard didn't even waste his breath on a superfluous introduction, but instead just powered through 'Your Bruise,' 'The New Year' and 'We Laugh Indoors' much to the delight of the fans. The band knew that it was going to be their dedicated fans that came to this show, as material from their early records was almost perfectly balanced with tunes from last month's Codes and Keys. Gibbard even paused at one point to tell the audience this, saying they wanted to play 'a place like this' because they knew their 'hardcore fans' would come out. (He also added that he "fucking loves Boston," maybe to appear more edgy after all the recent backlash.)

Thanks to all that major-label keesh it seemed like you could taste Chris Walla's production, as Nick Harmer's low-end strings and Jason McGerr's crisp drumming anchored it all. Even songs with synths and drum tracks ("You Are A Tourist" and "Photobooth") sounded as if they were actually instruments and not recorded tracks. Even Gibbard's vocals - which are often shaky - seemed to stand on their own against the wall of sound behind him. He truly put this to the test when the rest of the band ran off stage and he played the acoustic song that helped thousands of hipsters and college kids get laid, "I Will Follow You Into The Dark." The crowd swayed and sung. Very Dispatch or something.

They jammed "I Will Possess Your Heart," bopped out "Soul Meets Body" and pogoed "The Sound of Settling" before saying goodnight and making everyone scream for more. Successfully, the guys mixed in "Stay Young, Go Dancing," "Styrofoam," "A Movie Script Ending" and the epic "Transatlanticism." Whether you're into the younger, more literately-lyricked Gibbard or the newly married sober songwriter, there's no denying that this group is still a cohesive and sonic powerhouse.

Is this like Muse coming to town and playing here? My mind still churns away...

Live Review: The Morning Benders w/Twin Sister @ Paradise Rock Club, 11/9/10

A few major factors are going to affect this review. The first being that this show was on my birthday (yay!), so my expectations are always high whenever a band plays on my special little day. I always think, "These guys know that they're playing on my birthday, so they better kick ass." To be fair, the bar was set ridiculously high back in 2008 with the double-bonerific bill of Drive-By Truckers and The Hold Steady - a gig that ended with members of the 'Truckers coming on stage to cover The Band's "Lookout Cleveland," duet on "Chillout Tent," and rock the shit out of "Killer Parties." Obviously I knew the Morning Benders weren't going to bust into "Across The Sea" or anything, but I knew they did a whole album of covers (The Bedroom Covers) and Big Echo is one of the year's better albums.

When walking into the Paradise on Commonwealth Ave, I had remembered that they closed for the month of August to do some renovations, so it'd be nice to see if I would actually notice anything. Well, I did... and that shit ain't right! I'll spare you my displeasure about the renovations, because it's not going to go back to the way it was and we all just have to deal with it. The new setup did affect my overall experience, however, which is unfortunate. My cohorts and I made our way towards the balcony to get a better view only to find that it was chained off, something I never understood. The crowd wasn't sold out, but it was big for a Tuesday night, so I didn't get what the deal was. Ok, enough about that - I could go on for too long.

Twin Sister was the second band of the night. I missed Oberhofer. They're an indie band with a a song called ""o0O0o0O0o." Read about them on another blog. Twin Sister is yet another band from Brooklyn, and they play indie rock like every other band in Williamsburg. They were entertaining, but not knowing anything about them made them sound very generic. The band saved their blog hit "All Around and Away We Go" for last, which was fitting, as it is a good tune (listen to it here).

Headliners the Morning Benders took the stage with singer Chris Chu introducing them and promising the crowd that they would play Big Echo in its entirety. They chose to start things off with the mellow "Wet Cement," which immediately got the crowd singing along with its 'whoa-oh-oh-oh's. They faithfully played Big Echo highlights "Promises," "Cold War" and other tracks until they decided it was time for a cover. I yelled for "Lovefool," but they said they didn't remember it. Ok, so they played Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams," which was equally as excellent...although immediately following the song's conclusion I asked for "King Like Me" - shot in the dark, I know, but why wouldn't they do it? I mean they know it's my birthday! Along with Big Echo they played "Waiting For A War," a great cut from the band's first album Talking Through Tin Cans and saved the crowd-pleasing "Excuses" for last, which had every single person in the club singing along.