Show Review

I’m so glad they’re back.

So, Brand New, one of the bands I’ve been listening to since I really started loving music, disappeared for a few years, blah blah blah. We all know the story now, and while their latest might not have been the comeback I was anticipating, this band is truly unstoppable from being as big and noticed as they want to be—or as undeniably humble as they want to be.

As I approached the venue, I had a slight sense of overall apathy about seeing the band for the 4th or 5th time, whichever it was. My thought process: after I’ve seen a band so many times, is there really anything they can do to impress me? Maybe it’s not so surprising that this is one of the few bands who can, anymore—maybe that’s the irony of it all. That a band who I’ve almost lost faith in and feel disillusioned with can be one of the few bands to really transform my expectations and realizations with one show…but I’m rambling already.

Of course, the Ogden Theatre, which I love as a venue, had horrible information on their website—I’m just glad I decided to go early this night. For some reason, shows here start earlier than I’m used to. Needless to say, I missed Manchester Orchestra (which I’ve been hearing astounding things about) but caught all of Kevin Devine’s set. It was cool to see members of all the other bands (Manchester, BN) come out on the stage during various songs by Kevin, but I guess I wish he played more new songs and less old ones—I really do love his latest, “Put Your Ghost To Rest.” Still, Kevin’s delicate voice came across well and the easy highlight of the set was the chaotic “Cotton Crush” (which features Lacey of Brand New) when three different drummers came out and countless other musicians all played together. It was damn noisy and bordering on annoying, but still fun to watch—in fact, that might be the first time I’ve seen Lacey smile in 4 years. If you have the chance and are into him, Kevin Devine won’t disappoint—especially if you’re familiar with more than just one album in his catalogue.

At last, Brand New came on, and like I said I was rather disenchanted with seeing them. Not necessarily because I wasn’t excited, or that I wasn’t interested—but I just felt like they really weren’t going to do anything I hadn’t seen before. I wasn’t totally wrong, but I was definitely rejuvenated with the acoustic rendering of “Jude Law” and a few energetic jams from “Your Favorite Weapon.” I’m still confused why they always play “The Seatbelt Song,” (I just think it’s a little boring) but totally got off to “The Shower Scene,” and of course, “Seventy Times Seven.” It was frustrating; you couldn’t hear much amidst the array of 15 year old scene kids belting off tune. Still, it was invigorating. A few months ago when I saw the band open for Dashboard Confessional (yeah, what would you expect) they had little more energy than a sloth—tonight, Lacey still had that look like he was hating life on his face, but his body and the band said otherwise. I was only reminded of the “good old days” when I saw them play with Taking Back Sunday to a packed house of future elitist scene kids (hence, me). The band split the set into three clear-cut separations of songs—initially, songs from Your Favorite Weapon, next songs from Deja Entendu (this was the longest portion of the set) and finally songs from their latest, the Devil And God. The Deja portion of the set was extremely invigorating; the band played almost the entire “Deja Entendu” album, unfortunately skipping “the Quiet Things that No One Ever Knows” but making up for it with a truly epic “Play Crack The Sky.”

For the latter segment, Vinny was extra noisy on guitar, meddling with several effects (mostly delay) and I’m assuming this perfectly complimented the sound they were going for on the new album. Kevin Devine came out for “Jesus Christ,” wearing a silly animal hat—and even though you couldn’t hear Jesse, much less Kevin, due to all the kids singing along, it sounded significantly better than their recent performance on Letterman. It was truly exhilarating.

So you’ve probably already bought tickets for this tour already, and if you haven’t, it will probably be hard to get them. Just know that Brand New are finally back, and this tour is a splendid display of a band who are finally rejuvenated and ready to get back in front of sold-out crowds and die hard fans. Ironically, unlike their latest effort, the show was truly everything but a letdown in my mind.

review by Andrew Martin