February « 2010 « inTuneMusic

Dropkick Murphys / Strung Out / Larry and His Flask @ Montclair 2/24/10

February 24, 2010

A month before St. Patrick’s Day — as part of a tour that wraps up on the holiday in Boston — the Dropkick Murphys arrived in northern New Jersey on a cool Wednesday evening. Despite the show starting earlier than advertised, and a fire alarm resulting in a near-cancellation of the event, the night was an excellent mix of Irish folk songs and punk rock antics.

Strung Out frontman Jason Cruz

Larry and His Flask opened the evening with a blend of bluegrass, folk, and punk rock. Combining banjo, double bass, mandolin, harmonica, guitar, and varied percussion, the Oregon six-piece certainly entertained the crowd during their brief set with rowdy jams that seemed to belong in an interstate truckstop bar. An absolute blast not just to listen to but also to watch, Larry and His Flask are certainly worthy of a deeper look.

California natives Strung Out performed next. The band’s punk-meets-metal tunes were ferocious, with vocalist Jason Cruz pouring his heart into the performance. Unfortunately, the band sounded muddy, with it difficult to identify lyrics and individual riffs over the extremely loud bass and drums.

With a swell of bagpipes beginning “Cadence to Arms”, the Dropkick Murphys walked on stage and began a thirty-song onslaught that found the band digging into all six of their full-length albums. “Captain Kelly’s Kitchen” was an absolute blast, with the band and crowd singing in unison to the song’s traditional Irish chorus. “The State of Massachusetts” and “Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya” (both from the band’s latest release, 2007′s The Meanest of Times) received excellent treatment.

Dropkick Murphys bassist Ken Casey

Keeping things fairly recent, The Warrior’s Code lead-off track (“Your Spirit’s Alive”) and title-track went back to back before the band kicked into the traditional “Fighting 69th” from 1999′s The Gang’s All Here. “As One and “Buried Alive” went as planned, but during “Surrender” the power cut out and the entire venue went dark. After ten minutes passed, it looked like the show would be canceled when bassist Ken Casey stormed back on stage to start things back up with an impromptu performance of “Citizen CIA”.

Sing Loud, Sing Proud!‘s “Forever” was dedicated to longtime-fan and recently deceased Jimmy Birmingham. For “The Dirty Glass”, Deadly Sins’s frontwoman and (and touring Dropkick Murphys merch-girl) Stephanie Dougherty joined the band to perform her parts of the call-and-response ballad from Blackout. Singles “Sunshine Highway” and “Walk Away” received a warm response, but live staple “Heroes From Our Past” drove the crowd into a frenzy.

Stephanie Dougherty joining the band to perform "The Dirty Glass"

For “Kiss Me, I’m Shitfaced” the band invited every girl in the Wellmont Theater to hop the barrier and join the band, resulting in over one hundred girls of all ages on stage dancing and singing with the Murphys. Fan-favorite “Barroom Hero” cleared everyone off the stage, with vocalist Al Barr singing yet another song about a drunk Irishman.

Pleasing a good portion of the crowd who learned only of the Murphys through blockbuster film The Departed, “Shipping Up to Boston”‘s first few notes elicited an overwhelming roar. The band wrapped up with fiery performances of two of their oldest (and most loved) cuts, the traditional-but-adapted “Skinhead on the MBTA” and “Boys on the Docks”.

Cadence to Arms
Do or Die
Captain Kelly’s Kitchen
The State of Massachusetts
Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya
Your Spirit’s Alive
The Warrior’s Code
Fighting 69th
As One
Buried Alive
Surrender
Citizen CIA
[unidentified song]
Bastards on Parade
Forever
The Dirty Glass
Time to Go
Sunshine Highway
Finnegan’s Wake
Auld Triangle
Walk Away
Heroes From Our Past
Black Velvet Band
Far Away Coast
21 Guitar Salute (The Press cover)
Kiss Me I’m Shitfaced
Barroom Hero
Shipping Up to Boston
Skinhead on the MTBA
Boys on the Docks

The cathedral-themed stage as the lights were restored

Even with a temporary delay interrupting the Dropkick Murphys midway through the night, the show was still an incredible event. The Murphys certainly celebrate their entire discography, playing much of their 1998 debut side by side with newer songs. The Wellmont Theater’s sound left much to be desired, but the band’s sheer energy and intimacy with the crowd overcame that issue and left the sold-out Montclair, New Jersey, crowd completely satisfied by night’s end.

3 Comments | Dropkick Murphys, Larry and His Flask, Montclair, New Jersey, Strung Out, Wellmont Theatre | Permalink
Posted by Anthony Charles Ambrose

H2O @ NYC 2/21/10

February 21, 2010

Wrapping up a weekend of sold-out shows appropriately titled “Fifteen Year Plan” to celebrate the band’s decade-and-a-half existence, H2O took to Brooklyn’s Knitting Factory for a Sunday punk-rock matinée. The new Knitting Factory, which replaces the venue of the same name located in Manhattan, offered the veteran hardcore act a chance to play in front of a tiny crowd without barriers or security guards preventing fans from climbing on stage.

H2O

The band’s performance began with the familiar words of “5 Year Plan”, the entire crowd singing along: “My friends look out for me like family, my mom’s been struggling since I was three. Am I scared, am I pushed, am I worried? Another day, another year, so what’s the hurry?” Aptly bridging the past with the present, 2008′s Nothing to Prove lead-off track “1995″ followed. By “Family Tree”, vocalist Toby Morse was clearly exhausted and tired from the weekend-long celebration; no matter, the frontman invited everyone and anyone who knew the words to take lead vocals and perform the song as he rested his voice.

H2O

Thicker than Water cuts “Everready” and “I See It In Us” found the entire crowd dancing along; title tracks from 1999 (“Faster than the World”) and 2008 (“Nothing to Prove”) were excellent. The setlist took a strange turn as the band recalled Ice Cube’s “It Was a Good Day”, running through a punk version of the classic hip-hop tune. Guitarists Todd Morse and Rusty Pistachio put the riffs together for “Bad Boys” — an Inner Circle song most widely known as the theme song to COPS — as Toby fumbled through the extremely brief cover.

H2O

“One Life One Chance” was dedicated to Toby’s upcoming project to promote the PMA (positive mental attitude, a foundation to the posi-hardcore genre), and the band worked through a few older songs (including excellent renditions of “Guilty by Association” and “Like a Prayer”) before surprisingly closing the show with “What Happened?” from the band’s most recent album. The full twenty-two song setlist:

5 Year Plan
1995
Family Tree–multiple singers
Everready
I See It In Us
Faster than the World
Nothing to Prove
Empty Pockets
Thicker Than Water
It Was a Good Day (Ice Cube cover)
Bad Boys (Inner Circle cover)
Still Here
Friend
Spirit of ’84
Hi-Lo
Fairweather Friend
Universal Language
Heart On My Sleeve
One Life One Chance
Guilty by Association
Like a Prayer
What Happened?

With Toby sharing vocals with anyone ready to take the microphone, H2O’s performance — recorded by Bridge 9 Records for a potential live album — was especially intimate and unique. The fifteen-year celebration was well-deserved: it is apparent that H2O is still as passionate about their music and their fans as ever.

All photographs credit to Discard This Message Photography. Please visit their website for more amazing photos from the evening.

1 Comment | H2O, Knitting Factory Brooklyn, New York, New York City | Permalink
Posted by Anthony Charles Ambrose

New Found Glory / Saves the Day / hellogoodbye / Fireworks @ NYC 2/18/10

February 18, 2010

In celebration of the ten year anniversary of New Found Glory’s self-titled album, the Floridian five-piece set their sights on a two month tour of the United States, playing the album from start to finish each night. Joined by Saves the Day, hellogoodbye, and Fireworks, the tour stopped at the 1200-person Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza on a Thursday evening.

Playing in New York City for the first time in their four year career, Fireworks kicked the show off at 7:30. Sticking almost exclusively to their debut full-length, All I Have to Offer is My Own Confusion, the Detroit natives played well to a very receptive crowd. The band’s blend of punk-pop is enjoyable in a live setting, with older, faster cuts like “From Mountain Movers to Lazy Losers” that really hit hard. It’s unfortunate that the band’s Triple Crown Records debut is so boring, over-produced, and lifeless; the Fireworks’s live performance shows a gritty punk-pop band with soul and heart. The full half-hour setlist:

Geography, Vonnegut And Me
I Support Same Sex Marriage
Show Me Your Vanishing Act One More Time
Closet Weather
Come Around
From Mountain Movers to Lazy Losers
When We Stand On Each Other We Block Out The Sun
Detroit

hellogoodbye

In complete contrast to the opening act, hellogoodbye was bland, uninspired, and generally disappointing during their thirty-minute set. Lip-synced vocals (“All Time Lows”) and cheesy power-pop felt remarkably out of place on a bill of solid punk-pop acts. The band stumbled through most of their setlist, showing promise just twice: the mandolin-powered “When We First Met” and the slick “Finding Something to Do”, both new, unreleased songs that hint at a band ready to turn a corner and finally release an album of substance. The eight song set:

All Time Lows
Shimmy Shimmy Quarter Turn
When We First Met
Baby It’s a Fact
Dear Jamie… Sincerely Me
Finding Something to Do
Oh It’s Love
Here In Your Arms

Saves the Day

New Jersey natives Saves the Day provided direct support, beginning with Through Being Cool opener “All-Star Me”, the first of four tracks from the excellent 1999 album. Led by Chris Conley’s unmistakable nasally vocals, the four-piece embraced the throw-back atmosphere of the evening and crafted a setlist weighted on the band’s oldest material, including rare cuts such as “Sell My Old Clothes, I’m Off to Heaven”. Saves the Day selected some of the better songs from their newer albums, as well, including “Eulogy” and “The End” from 2006′s Sound the Alarm, the band’s strongest album since the essential Stay What You Are, released at the beginning of the decade.

Saves the Day

Staples such as “Rocks Tonic Juice Magic” and “At Your Funeral” were complete-crowd singalongs, with Saves the Day newcomers guitarist Arun Bali, bassist Rodrigo Palma, and drummer Spencer Peterson clearly enjoying the songs as much as anyone in the crowd; New Found Glory’s Jordan Pundik joined the band in rocking out for fan-favorite “Shoulder to the Wheel”. Saves the Day disappointingly closed with the newer, slower “Kaleidoscope”, dismantling the energy the band had built across the last half of their set, ending with not a bang, but a whimper. The fifteen-song set:

All-Star Me
The End
Radio
Anywhere With You
Firefly
Holly Hox, Forget Me Nots
Can’t Stay the Same
Eulogy
Freakish
Driving in the Dark
Sell My Old Clothes, I’m Off to Heaven
Rocks Tonic Juice Magic
At Your Funeral
Shoulder to the Wheel
Kaleidoscope

New Found Glory

While Saves the Day certainly received a terrific crowd response, New Found Glory predictably blew the roof off of Irving Plaza. From New Found Glory track one, “Better Off Dead”, until track twelve, the entire audience sang along to every word out of vocalist Jordan Pundik’s mouth. Many of the night’s songs such as “Second to Last” and “Eyesore” were special treats, rarely seen on standard New Found Glory tours. Before finishing their self-titled album — about a forty minute set on its own — the band dedicated closer “Ballad for the Lost Romantics” to tourmates Saves the Day and to New York punks H2O, encouraging the crowd to catch the latter’s fifteen year anniversary shows scheduled for the coming weekend.

New Found Glory

Following a slight break, New Found Glory returned with a varied collection of eight more songs to stack onto the night’s set. Sticks and Stones opener “Understatement” began the singles-filled encore that also included hits such as “Head On Collision” and “It’s All Downhill From Here”. An exciting cover of local hardcore legends, Gorilla Biscuits, was appropriate and well-received by the older portion of the crowd. The penultimate “Intro” preceded the band’s biggest song to date, 2002′s “My Friends Over You”. The twenty-song setlist:

Better Off Dead
Dressed To Kill
Sincerely Me
Hit or Miss
Second To Last
Eyesore
Vegas
Sucker
Black and Blue
Boy Crazy
All About Her
Ballad For the Lost Romantics
Understatement
It’s All Downhill from Here
Head on Collision
Don’t Let Her Pull You Down
Truck Stop Blues
No Reason Why (Gorilla Biscuits cover)
Intro
My Friends Over You

Overlooking very minor missteps, such hellogoodbye’s inclusion on such an otherwise solid bill, New Found Glory’s stop in New York City was truly excellent. Saves the Day contributed to the night’s retro-feel by sticking to a set heavy in decade-old songs, and Fireworks proved that there are still worthwhile up-and-coming punk-pop acts to look forward to. New Found Glory’s execution of older material was flawless, and the relatively long encore of fan-favorites iced an already sweet cake. Other bands considering the ten-year album anniversary tour would do well to take notes from both New Found Glory’s supporting act selection and encore bonus song selection.

All photographs by the excellent Meghan McInnis.

1 Comment | Fireworks, hellogoodbye, New Found Glory, New York, New York City, Saves the Day, The Fillmore New York | Permalink
Posted by Anthony Charles Ambrose

Unsane / Made out of Babies / United Nations / Dark Vibe @ NYC 2/12/10

February 12, 2010

Collecting four hardcore-rooted acts local to New York City, Brooklyn’s tiny Union Pool hosted the enormous bill of Unsane, Made out of Babies, United Nations, and Dark Vibe. The sold-out event marked the influential Unsane’s first show in the city in two years and just the sixth show ever for United Nations. The courtyard outside of the venue was packed with fans who missed buying tickets, milling around the doors to hear leaked sound or a chance to catch even a glimpse of the bands’ performances.

Dark Vibe

Combining members of the now-defunct seminal screamo outfit Orchid and the up-and-coming experimental Bear in Heaven, Dark Vibe opened the evening. The four-pieced ripped through their eight-song setlist, blasting Geoff Garlock’s bass riffs under Adam Will’s frantic guitar work. The music was almost certainly new to everyone in the crowd who watched idly as former Orchid frontman Jayson Green wailed over the band’s noisy rock. Joe Stickney’s fiery drumming kept things interesting, but it’s clear the band still has a long way to go. The band’s written setlist, named with what must be temporary titles:

Power Violence
Long Intro
2nd / Sludge Song
First Song
Black Metal
Long Song
Short Song
Third Song

United Nations

United Nations followed, anchored by the absolutely stellar drumming of Converge’s Ben Koller. The band, which also features the seemingly solidified final lineup of Thursday’s Geoff Rickly providing vocals, The Hope Conspiracy’s Jim Carroll on bass, Acid Tiger’s Lukas Previn on guitar, and Lovekill’s Jonah Bayer on guitar, worked through a somewhat brief setlist of brand new songs and cuts from their self-titled full-length, including “My Cold War” and “No Sympathy for a Sinking Ship”. Precise yet inherently spastic, United Nations played extremely well and raised excitement for their upcoming 7″ on Death Wish Records.

Made out of Babies

Made out of Babies provided direct support; with an aggressive blend of noise, screamo, hardcore, and post-hardcore, the Brooklyn quartet fit well into the bill of similar acts. Frontwoman Julie Christmas lead the band with her guttural screams and high-pitched wails, unphased by the genre’s tendency towards male screamers. As if to prove her toughness, Christmas accidentally cut her eyebrow and bled profusely for quite some time before stopping the exsanguination with a handkerchief from a nearby fan. With exception of the first two songs (“Gunt” and “Mr. Prison Shanks”), Made out of Babies stuck entirely to their latest record, The Ruiner:

Gunt
Mr. Prison Shanks
Buffalo
Cooker
Invisible Ink
The Major
Peew
How To Get Bigger

Unsane

By far the longest running band on the night’s bill, Unsane began things with a collection of post-millennium cuts. With the bulk of the band’s much-lauded catalog rooted in the 1990s (four albums from 1991 to 1998), it surprisingly took the trio seven songs into their setlist before digging back that to that decade , starting with Occupational Hazard‘s “Committed”, a song most well-known as being a part of the 1999 Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater soundtrack. Once the page turned, however, Unsane didn’t look back as the band’s last ten songs all came from either 1995′s Scattered, Smothered & Covered or 1998′s Occupational Hazard. “Scrape” was warmly received, as much of the older crowd reminisced in the music video featuring skateboarding accidents. The sixteen song set finished with a colossal, ten-minute version of “Get Off My Back”:

Against the Grain
Release
Recovery
Killing Time
Only Pain
Last Man Standing
Committed
Over Me
Sick
Out
Can’t See
Body Bomb
Alleged
Scrape
Empty Cartridge
Get Off My Back

Those lucky enough to acquire a ticket to the packed show found much to enjoy at Brooklyn’s Union Pool on a frigid Friday night. The blended bill of both long-running and up-and-coming New York City acts mixed well; one can only hope that older acts like Unsane and side-projects like United Nations continue to perform in and around New York City.

All photographs by Jack Crank.

Leave a Comment » | Dark Vibe, Made out of Babies, New York, New York City, Union Pool, United Nations, Unsane | Permalink
Posted by Anthony Charles Ambrose

Anti-Flag @ NYC 2/4/10

February 4, 2010

Grabbing Aiden, Cancer Bats, and Star Fucking Hipsters, Anti-Flag embarked on the nationwide The Economy Sucks Tour. The tour rolled into New York City on February 4, stopping at the intimate 700-person Highline Ballroom. Missing the opening bands, I arrived only to see Anti-Flag take the stage at 9PM.

Anti-Flag kicked things off with “The Press Corpse”, the first of five songs from their RCA Records debut, For Blood and Empire. The 2006 album isn’t amongst the band’s top works, but luckily the Pittsburgh four-piece did their best to choose the album’s best cuts. “Sodom, Gomorrah, Washington D.C.”, the leadoff track from the band’s excellent new album followed, with Justin Sane’s biting religious cynicism taking aim at politics in the nation’s capital. The anti-George Bush “Turncoat” went next, inspiring the entire crowd to sing along to the condemnations against the former world leader: “Turncoat, killer, liar, thief — criminal with protection of the law.”

Anti-Flag joined by a representative of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Lead by Chris Head’s driving guitar, tour namesake “The Economy Is Suffering… Let It Die” was relevant and potent. “Underground Network” was dedicated to Amnesty International, an organization set on abolishing human rights injustices such as torture and promoting human dignity. Bassist Chris Parker (Chris #2) grabbed a megaphone for “The Modern Rome is Burning” from 2008′s The Bright Lights of America, screaming comparisons between the historical burning Rome and modern United States cities.

Anti-Flag bassist Chris #2

Two of the band’s oldest songs, “Drink Drank Punk” and “Fuck Police Brutality”, received the warmest reception of the evening with circle pits of punks in patched leather jackets slamming through the crowd. A representative of Iraq Veterans Against the War was invited on stage by the band and spoke out against United States involvement in the middle-east prior to a performance of “This is the End”. The essential “You’ve Got To Die For The Government” closed out the band’s set with the crowd singing along: “You’ve gotta die for your government, die for your country? That’s shit!”

Anti-Flag frontman Justin Sane

Anti-Flag returned to perform three extremely well-done covers of The Clash, including the London outfit’s take on the Sonny Curtis original “I Fought the Law”. Perhaps no band identifies with or embraces The Clash’s ideals in the last thirty years more than Anti-Flag, so an entire encore based on the seminal English punks makes perfect sense. “Should I Stay or Should I Go” appeared to finish the entire evening, but as the crew took down the band’s gear drummer Pat Thetic set up a drum in the crowd and began to play “Power to the Peaceful”, the final song of of the band’s nineteen song setlist:

The Press Corpse
Sodom, Gomorrah, Washington D.C. (Sheep In Shepherd’s Clothing)
Turncoat
The Economy Is Suffering… Let It Die
I’d Tell You But…
Underground Network
The Modern Rome Burning
1 Trillion Dollar$
Drink Drank Punk
Fuck Police Brutality
This Is The End (For You My Friend)
This is The First Night
Cities Burn
The Gre(A)t Depression
You’ve Got To Die For The Government
The Guns Of Brixton (The Clash cover)
I Fought The Law (The Clash cover)
Should I Stay Or Should I Go (The Clash cover)
Power To The Peaceful

Encouraging community and human compassion, Anti-Flag united and inspired the Highline Ballroom crowd. The band’s setlist was extremely heavy on newer works, but luckily much of that new material is just as powerful as the band’s early catalog. Anti-Flag’s message that music can be more than pop radio resonated loudly; an extremely polarizing and outspoken band, it isn’t necessary to agree with every single message the band sends. It is important, however, to fight for your own ideals and for the causes that strike a chord with you.

Photographs by Lizak.

2 Comments | Anti-Flag, Highline Ballroom, New York, New York City | Permalink
Posted by Anthony Charles Ambrose

inTuneMusic

Dropkick Murphys / Strung Out / Larry and His Flask @ Montclair 2/24/10

H2O @ NYC 2/21/10

New Found Glory / Saves the Day / hellogoodbye / Fireworks @ NYC 2/18/10

Unsane / Made out of Babies / United Nations / Dark Vibe @ NYC 2/12/10

Anti-Flag @ NYC 2/4/10

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