Brand New Returns Home With Mixed Results

Brand New, Glassjaw, Crime in Stereo
Oakdale Theater, Wallingford CT
November 25th 2009

On the night before Thanksgiving, Brand New would make a stop in Connecticut on their way to a homecoming show on Long Island. While it would have been easy to mail it in knowing home was less than two hours away, the band put in another great effort, ripping though old favorites as well as the majority of tracks from their latest effort, Daisy.

Just like in Boston a week earlier (read my review here), new songs received only a luke-warm reception, while cuts such as “Jude Law and a Semester Abroad” and “Okay I Believe You but my Tommy Gun Don’t” had the crowd up in arms. The only disappointing aspect of the set was that it was about 15 minutes shorter than their Boston effort and excluded other fan favorites such as “Mixed Tape” and “The Shower Scene.”

The shorter set shouldn’t take away from the fact that Jesse Lacey and Co. were once again first-rate, proving that even when they should have one foot out the door, they’re still one of today’s great live bands.

Brand New, Glassjaw, Thrice, Manchester Orchestra, Kevin Devine
Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale New York
November 29th 2009

You would think this one would deserve its own review, wouldn’t you? Unfortunately, Brand New’s  biggest ever headlining show didn’t quite live

Glassjaw's Palumbo

up to expectations. With support from a hand full of their favorite bands at an arena just minutes from where they grew up, I think everyone who made their way inside the Nassau Coliseum was expecting something special. What they got was something very ordinary.

The main reason the show wasn’t the rousing success it should have been was the time constraints placed on each band. Five acts on one stage is too many, and it became quite obvious when openers Kevin Devine, Manchester Orchestra, and Thrice were all limited to very short sets. Main support Glassjaw was allowed to play longer, and put on the type of show that has made them Long Island legends, at least to those who mixed it up on the floor of the cavernous arena. Daryl Palumbo was at his deranged best, singing and screaming his vocal cords to shreds.

The best way to describe the headliners set would be “loud.” The speakers which towered above the stage pumped out the type of sound that could finally do justice to tracks such as “Sink” and “Gasoline.” The band did their part by turning in the frenzied performance all of their fans have come to expect.  There was very little between song banter for a hometown show, which wasn’t much of a surprise considering Jessey Lacey is rarely one to wax poetic in such situations.

The most memorable moment of the night was not an individual song, but was when the band finally paused to look around at the thousands of occupied seats stretching high up the rafters. Understated as always, Lacey simply said “This is big… Bigger than my bedroom.”

The band closed the set with “Seventy Times 7″ much sooner than the crowd had hoped, most likely due to a curfew imposed by the venue. While the thousands who filed out of the arena left satisfied, this should have been the type of show that is talked about for years to come, but I doubt that will be the case. The second acoustic stage featuring old favorites Vinnie Caruana of The Movielife and Andy Jackson of Hot Rod Circuit was a very nice touch, as were the four bands who opened on the main stage. However, the next time Brand New returns to Long Island, hopefully they will keep the focus where it belongs, which is squarely on themselves.

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Brand New Shines, Surprises in Boston Second Effort

Brand New
Glassjaw
Crime in Stereo
House of Blues Boston
November 18th, 2009

Shorty before the release of their fourth record Daisy in September, Brand New announced what was by far the most ambitious touring plans of their career. Not only would they play the biggest clubs in cities across the country, they would play multiple nights in a number of these cities, and then finish the trek with a hometown stop at the massive Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. At first, I doubted the band’s ability to pull this off, and was expecting a whole lot of half-empty venues.

My expectation were pretty far off. Despite Daisy’s mixed reviews, the House of Blues in Boston was sold out for the second straight night when Brand New stepped on stage  November 18th.  Having seen the band a number of times, I can honestly say that no two  performances are ever the same, and this may have been the strangest, and at times most satisfying I’ve witnessed from band.

The night began with a largely ignored 25 minute set from Crime in Stereo. The band ran into the same problems I feel plague them on CD, mainly the fact that it is  difficult to hear lead singer Kristian Hallbert’s vocals over the music.

Next up was long-dormant Long Island legends Glassjaw. Considering the band hadn’t toured in nearly three years, I

Glassjaw's Palumbo

wasn’t sure what to expect. I had seen them once before, and I must say they weren’t nearly as impressive on this occasion. While they played their blend of aggressive yet melodic hardcore with near surgical precision, they didn’t seem all that interested to be on stage.

The quartet, who aligned themselves in a circle with bassist Manny Carrero facing away from the crowd, played a mix of songs from their two full length records, as well as a few new tracks including “Jesus Glue.” The setlist had the crowd at times in a furry, and at other times in a state of confusion. Seeing that it was mainly the former, the crowd didn’t seem to mind the band’s relative indifference.

After an excruciatingly long 45 minute wait, Brand New finally took the stage and openned with the instrumental “Walcome To Bangkok.” While the band had used an extended version of the track as an epic closing number on previous tours, this true-to-the-album version served as more of a warm-up than a showstopper.

The Long Island quintet would then get things rolling with “Sink” and “Degausser” before charging into the explosive combination of “You Won’t Know,” “Tommy Gun,” “Sic Transit Gloria,”  “The Quite Things that No One Every Knows,” and finally “Mix Tape.” This string of crowd favorites featured Brand New at their very finest.

After enigmatic front man Jesse Lacey completed an eerie solo version of “Limousine,” the band would  showcase new material from Daisy. Much like the record itself, the results were mixed. While Brand New nailed the new, more technically challenging songs, the crowd’s enthusiasm dropped through the floor, as those at the front  suddenly fell silent and still.

Brand New's Vin Accardi

The crowd finally snapped out of their funk later in the set when Band New ripped though two of their fastest and most energetic songs, “The Shower Scene” and “The Archers Bows Have Broken.” This were followed by “At the Bottom,” the Daisy lead single which received the best response of any of the new songs.

Instead of leaving the stage before the encore, Lacey instead began to strum the tune to “Wild Thing,” which he explained by saying “Sometimes this yellow guitar just wants to play ‘Wild Thing,’ what can I say.” What would a Brand New show be without at least one head-scratching moment?

After over an hour and half on stage, the band would finally bring the show to a close by giving the fans exactly what they wanted: the combination of “Jude Law and a Semester Abroad” and “Seventy Times 7.” While Lacey and Co. once refused to play these songs live, they seem to have embraced the Your  Favorite Weapon classics as the perfect way to end a show.

Those at the front were throughly exhausted and made their exit completely content with what they had just witnessed. However, it was difficult to ignore the lukewarm reception to nearly every Daisy track. While the band seems to relish the fact their new record has polarized their fan base, you have to wonder how much they enjoy a packed venue that suddenly goes still whenever they play a song like “Bought a Bride.”

Reaction or no reaction, I’m sure the band isn’t going to stray away from their new songs anytime soon. As Brand New has proven throughout their career, they aren’t going to let the silence of spectators or changing trends affect what they do as a band, either in the studio or in a live setting.

 

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Brand New Are Like The UPS Guy, They Always Deliver

Brand New
Robbers
Music Hall of Williamsburg
July 11th 2009

Since the release of their breakout record Deja Entendu in 2003, Brand New have mastered the art of keeping a low profile why still becoming one of biggest bands in their scene. This was evidenced by their latest tour, a string of extremely small club dates that sold out instantly, as the majority of their shows do. The one I was lucky enough to get tickets to was a home town show (of sorts) at the Music Hall of Williamsburgh in Brooklyn. The band would not only preview material from their upcoming forth album, but also rip through a set of old favorites and one very pleasant surprise.

The night began with a short set from Robbers, a band from Long Island seemingly no one in the crowd had ever heard of before. I had listened to a few of their songs earlier in the day, and wasn’t impressed with what I heard. Maybe it was because I wasn’t expecting much, or maybe it was because the band was just that good, but I thoroughly enjoyed their performance, as did most of those in the crowd. Unlike the mellow tracks I was expecting, Robbers played fast, technical songs and brought enough energy to grab the attention of even those in the back of the room who had hoped to play around on their iPhones until the headliners took the stage.

The band’s lead singer (Andrew? Matt? Chris? They do a good job of hiding their identities) thrashed around the stage like a wild man, doing his

Robbers

best Glassjaw-era Daryl Palumbo impression while the rest of the band backed him up nicely. The group said very little throughout the set, instead squeezing as many songs into their half hour on stage as possible. The lack of between stage banter was somewhat surprising considering the band was playing a show close to home in front of a sold-out crowd, but I don’t think anyone was complaining.

After Robbers left the stage to a large round of applause, the wait was on for Brand New. The band had performed only a smattering of shows at colleges and smaller venues since the end of their last US headlining trek in 2007, so most in the crowd had been waiting quite a while to see Jesse Lacey and co. The band took the stage in typical Brand New fashion, looking like they might as well have been ordering an Iced Coffee at Dunkin Donuts or waiting in line for an ATM. That all changed or course as guitarist Vin Accardi strummed the opening cords to “OK, I Believe You But My Tommy Gun Don’t.” Only Brand New could open a show with the lines “I am Heaven sent, don’t you dare forget” and still remain completely credible.

The band then moved on to “Sic Transit Gloria, Glory Fades,” followed by “The Quite Things That No One Ever Knows.” Right off the bat, Brand New had played the three biggest songs from their breakout record, and while they sounded great, the crowd seemed hesitant to do anything but sing along.That changed with “The Shower Scene,” a song the band continues to play at almost every show, not because it’s a fan favorite, but because it gets the crowd moving. Things would then slow down slightly with “Jaws Theme Swimming” as the crowed swayed along. For the first part of the show, the band made little attempt to acknowledge the crowd, steamrolling through songs and barely giving anyone in the venue time to catch their breath.

The Long Island quintet has always operated this way, seemingly trying as hard as they can to wear down the crowd by playing their fastest songs first, and then mixing in slower tracks and crowd interaction later. While the set was moving in a seemingly predictable manner, the band threw in a huge curve with the surprise of the night: “Flying at Tree Level.” The Deja Entandu b-side, which they had never played live before this tour, is arguably one of the best songs the band has ever written. While there were plenty in the crowd of 550 who weren’t familiar with it, those who were (such as myself) pretty much flipped out when the opening notes came without any type of introduction. Surprisingly, it sounded as if the band had been playing the song for years. Hopefully, they continues to play the song live after this tour, but I’m not betting on it.

While Brand New once went through a stage where they shied away (that’s putting it mildly) from playing songs from their debut record Your Favorite Weapon, they now seem comfortable with including the best songs from that album on their set lists, and the band showcased this with the next three tracks, “Mixed Tape,” “7×70″ and “Jude Law and a Semester Abroad.” Now I attend shows pretty frequently, and I have to say, New York crowds are consistently better than their counterparts in New England, especially when Brand New is involved. This fact shined through during this part of the set, as everyone in attendance sang along as if they had written every single word themselves, giving even the venue’s impressively loud sound system a run for its money.

After the crowd had screamed themselves horse to “Jude Law,” the band would move on to the part of the set where they would slow it down, talking about their upcoming record and debuting two songs from it. Before beginning the song “Bride,” Lacey would say “We have a new record coming out. Some people will try to tell you that’s it a big deal. It’s not, it’s just a new record.” It still amazes me how a band that has seen such great success and has such a rabid underground fan base can either be A) this humble, or B) this good making people believe they are. I’m not quite sure which one it is, but I sure would like to believe it’s the former.

Brand New also played the new song “Gasoline,” which sounded great and even had some in the crowd singing along (what would we do without digital cameras and youtube?). Then the band would finally venture into territory from 2006′s The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me. First would be “Sowing Season (Yeah).” It incited a huge sing (and screen) along (but that was true of just about every song on this night). One aspect of the show I was highly impressed by was the venue itself. Considering the Music Hall of Williamsburg had undergone recent renovations and a name change, I was expecting a shiny new venue complete with obnoxious bouncers, “no photography” rules, metal detectors, and of course more bars than you could count on both hands. To my pleasant surprise, I found the complete opposite. The venue was small and intimate, and while it was clean, it certainly didn’t seem new or sterile. To top it off, the sound was great, there were no searches, no barriers, and no bouncers. There was nothing to get between the crowd and what they come to see.

Next, the band would play two more Devil and God songs, “Archers” and “Jesus Christ,” which both earned huge reactions from the crowd and sounded great. The band followed with what they described as one of the slower songs from their new record, apparently titled “Bed.” While it’s difficult to judge a song based on one listen, it certainly seems like the band’s upcoming record will be another outstanding effortt.

The next three songs would bring things back up to speed, and they included “Geurnica,”"Degausser,” and “You Won’t Know.” As is true of most Brand New shows, the latter track was one of the highlights of the night, with Jesse screaming practically the entire song as the rest of the band tore it up behind him. Following this track would be the point where most bands walk of stage and then return for the encore, a trend that is as played-out as any will ever be. Luckily, Jesse remained on stage to finish the show with “Soco Amareto Lime,” and “Play Crack the Sky.” While these two tracks provide the perfect closing note to the band’s first two records, they were also a perfect way to finish off the show, for this is where the crowd truly felt like they were part a part of it, drowning out Lacey’s acoustic strumming.

It was also during these two songs that Lacey let the crowd know just how grateful he was of their support and how happy he was to be (close to) home. I’ve never gotten the idea the band loves being out on the road, and it was obvious they appreciated the support of the hometown crowd, which included many family members and friends. As Lacey completed the set’s final song, the crowd begged for an encore, but thankfully wouldn’t receive one, for night could now end on a very high note. As the fans filed out of the venue, they received flyers announcing a Brand New headlining show along with Glassjaw at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island in November.  While this will truly be a homecoming show for the band, it was obvious that they were in their element on this night, providing the lucky500 or so in attendance the type performance they’ve come to expect from one of today’s most consistently spectacular performers.