by: Alex Mayfield
The crowd rolled into the newly erected Fillmore in Charlotte on Monday night. As people waited the stage was already set for what was hopefully going to be an amazing show. As 7 pm rolled around, the lights dimmed and Long Island’s Crime in Stereo took the stage. Musically the band was alright, with heavy riffs and your average drum beats. The vocalist, Kristian Hallbert, brought high energy but overall the band lacked something brilliant, they were missing a crowd that was into their show. Without the crowd feeding off the band, the band could not feed off the crowd, and Crime In Stereo was slowly forgotten as they left the stage.
As the crowd waited, the lights drop down once again and the crowd rushes forward as Thrice enters. Though playing Beggars, one of the most excellent albums of the year, the biggest hit for Thrice seemed to be their creative take on The Beatle’s "Helter Skelter." Though clearly not the first time covered, it had to be one of the most blood pulsing, crowd thriving songs of the night. Though the rest of the set list was filled with "The Weight" and "All the World is Mad" (both songs were incredible), they ended the set with "Beggars." This is where Thrice truly showed how much passion was put into the music they were making. With such a great set, it was a shame that they had to be followed by Brand New, which made me almost forgot they had played.
Brand New opened the set with "Welcome to Bangkok" off of The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me and to my surprise a wonderful guest appeared on stage with Brand New. The wonderful and very enthusiastic, Kevin Devine decided to grace us with his presence, which was even a surprise to Jesse Lacey, front man of Brand New. After, they continued playing "Sink," "The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows," "Sic Transit Gloria…Glory Fades," and several others that made the crowd scream their hearts out. Jesse Lacey slowed it down for a moment as he played one of the band’s most powerful songs (and one of the most powerful of the set) by himself. ("Limousine MS Rebridge") As the band joined him again they continue playing most of Devil and God… and their new album, Daisy. Then, Lacey walks off stage for about 15 seconds, he walks back out and says “Pretend, if you will, that we just left and you chanted for us for hours and hours.” They immediately jump into "Jude Law and a Semester Abroad" and end the show on the very high energy "Shower Scene." In the end if you ask me was a 4 hour round trip on a Monday night worth seeing these guys plays live, my answer would clearly be, “Without a doubt!” Thrice and Brand New came together to create an amazing experience and one of my favorite shows of all time.
actually, the last song of Brand New's set was "Seventy Times 7", not "Shower Scene."
ReplyDeletei was there, bloody brilliant show. i actually acquired a black eye from "Helter Skelter," so what you said about the thrashing crowd is 100% accurate.