Firstly, I’d like to say that I should not be allowed to review my favourite band. I grew up listening to Brand New, so all of their songs are attached to specific memories and moments in my life. I’ve been told that I can gush about this as much as I want, but I’ll try to be as objective as possible. So with that aside, this show was AH-MA-ZING! Everything about the night was perfect; the venue, the crowd, the support band, the headliner. I think Brand New sold out (or came close to selling out) every show on this tour, something that neither of their last two headlining tours managed.
Kevin Devine opened the night and I was very impressed with his performance. He opened with some solid songs that captivated the audience. What I noticed was that he had great articulation, and I could actually make out what he was singing. However, as the night went on and people anticipated Brand New hitting the stage more and more, I think some people lost their interest in Kevin’s performance. Some spark was added into Kevin’s set when he decided to do a Nirvana cover and Jesse Lacey of Brand New joined him on stage, and that kind of reengaged people in Kevin’s performance. During the louder moments of his songs, Kevin thrashed around stage like a madman; I honestly can’t tell how he’s able to keep time while moving like that.  However, I found that the quieter moments of songs where it was just Kevin and his guitar with no or little support from the band, were his stronger moments. He definitely mellowed out the crowd and got the vibe of the night going. He interacted well with the crowd and people received him well.

My overall verdict of Kevin was that he was unbelievable adorable, and even when he was swearing he still seemed sweet. He had a very tight band (that included Vinnie Accardi of Brand New on guitar) but the lighting clearly indicated that it was “the Kevin Devine show.” My only regret is that I wasn’t more acquainted with Kevin’s music and could have appreciated his set more if I was more familiar with the material. He seemed very grateful to be playing to such a large audience, and very humbled for this opportunity. I’m very stoked to have had the chance to see Kevin Devine live and I would jump at the chance to see him again.

The room buzzed with excitement as we waited for Brand New to grace the stage. There were a few false starts when the lights were dimmed and the crowd cheered, only to be greeted with another song being played over the PA. This happened about three times, so I wonder if the lighting guys were just toying with the crowd because they knew they could. But the moment finally arrived when the show had to start, and Brand New exploded into their set with “Sink.” Jesse’s scream was spine tingling and I could feel shivers going through me. I was surprised that they didn’t open with “Vices” using the opera-esque introduction and all, but that was right up next (minus the intro though) and then was followed by “Gasoline” and “In A Jar.” It’s a well known fact that when writing Daisy, Brand New concentrated on writing songs to be played live, and these songs did not disappoint. There was an additional percussionist playing floor toms with Brian on “Sink” and that added a great depth to the song. Watching the synchronicity of the two drummers was amazing.

I never realised how much screaming there was on the songs from Daisy and after the first four songs, I just wanted to hear Jesse sing, rather than scream. My prayers were answered as Brand New launched in “Sowing Season.” Jesse plays with the vocal melody beautifully, which keeps the audience on their toes.
After six songs from their last two albums, it was time for a few classics. As the opening chords of “Okay I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don’t” were played, the crowd went nuts, and the sing along was HUGE. As mentioned before, this tour on the back of Daisy sold out in almost every city, a feat none of their previous tours had managed, so I was expecting most of the crowd to be mostly there for Daisy songs and was very surprised with the crowd reaction to songs off Deja Entendu and Your Favourite Weapon.

As “Mix Tape”, “Shower Scene” and “Jude Law and a Semester Abroad” were played, I felt the 14-year old-girl in me freaking out and memories of being angry in a very fast-punk-music kind of way came swarming back to me. It was great to experience these songs live, but there was also a sense of hilarity to see Brand New play such fast and angry songs. In a sense, it seemed like they were too old and mature to play songs with lines such as “…I hope the next boy that you kiss has something terribly contagious on his lips…” Just when you would think that the sing along couldn’t get any louder, Brand New burst into “Seventy Times 7” and the room went insane, everyone trying to sing louder than the person next to them while dancing around with their friends. The lights were also used well to add to the show, especially during these faster songs. The flashing lights were synched with the music and it added an extra layer to the performance.

Following this interlude of older songs, Brand New reverted back to tracks off The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me and Daisy, a more familiar Brand New sound. By this stage of the night, where I’d been past the stages of excitement and downright hysteria,  I found myself taking more notice of each musician on stage. Each had their own separate elements that captured my unwavering attention, until I had to snap myself out of the haze-like stare to take in the whole picture, rather than just one particular performer. Jesse thrashed around like a madman, similar to Kevin Devine, and the same thing can be said about Jesse that was said about Kevin, I have no idea how they manage to keep time. At least with Vinnie there’s a sense of timing and rhythm. It also seemed like Jesse was losing his voice, so he reverted to doing more screaming/shouting rather than singing, and I would have liked it better if he’d actually spent more time singing rather than shouting at every chance he got.

Speaking of Vinnie, he falls into the category of “guitarists who can actually nail their guitar lines live.” He doesn’t play around with his guitar lines and change them up, he just plays the already perfect lines that are on the recordings. Brian Lane’s drumming sounds HUGE in a live setting, it is much more dominant. The additional percussionist playing a range of percussion instruments including floor toms and hand percussion, added more detail and flair to the songs. I remember the last time I saw Brand New in 2007, I was up against the barrier right in front of bassist Garrett Tierney, and I remember thinking how amazing he was. Three years later and he’s still one of the best bass player’s I’ve seen live. Not only does he have great lines that are played perfectly live, you can also hear him. I guess that’s partially kudos to whoever is mixing the sound. And he seems to play his bass lines so effortlessly as well. I especially like that the bass lines are creative and have an actual melodic structure and form to them, and not just the dominant or tonic to support the chord.

Jesse closed the night by playing two songs by himself – “Limousine” and “Play Crack The Sky.” I hadn’t looked up the setlist before the show, but some of my friends had, so I’d asked them if the two songs I really wanted to see (“Jude Law” and “Limousine”) were on the setlist and they’d told me that the latter wasn’t, so I was not expecting them to play it. All Jesse had done was sing the first word (“K, …”) and I lost it. I was so psyched, I think I might have scared the people around me. The stripped down version of the traditionally full band song was beautiful and even without the support of the band, Jesse built and maintained the intensity of the song superbly. The night ended with crowd pleaser “Play Crack The Sky” and included a special appearance from Kevin Devine singing the harmonies. While coming onstage, there was some sort of technical difficulty or Kevin tripped over a lead or something, but the sound cut out for a couple of minutes, and Jesse joked with the crowd that Kevin had just killed the mood that Brand New had spent the last two hours building up. It was nice to see Jesse joking around with both the crowd and Kevin, and you can tell from the interaction that they were good friends. The 19 song long, almost two hour show couldn’t have ended in a better way.

It’s been a while since I have been to show that was straight up rock music (everyone I see these days seem to have tons of breakdowns and synths in their music, not that there’s anything wrong with that) and there could not have been a better band to see to get reacquainted with the genre. My only criticism is why wasn’t “The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows” or “Millstone” in the set?! But other than that, no major criticism, the show was mind blowing. I left The Palace on a high, and from the buzz in the lobby, it seemed like everyone else did too.

SETLIST:
Sink
Vices
Gasoline
In A Jar
Sowing Season (Yeah)
Archers
Tommy Gun
Sic Transit
Mix Tape
Shower Scene
Jude Law
Seventy Times 7
Jesus
You Won’t Know
Degausser
You Stole
At The Bottom
———–
Limousine
Play Crack The Sky