Last week my girlfriend Cait, my friend Joe and I got a chance to catch a pretty awesome show at the Worcester Palladium. I'll give you the rundown.First off, we were dissapointed by the absence of Death In the Park, a band formed from the ashes of unsung early 2000's emo heroes Hot Rod Circuit. Since we're all big HRC fans, we were excited to see Andy Jackson back on the stage and even mor excited to hear some songs from that excellent EP they put out last year. It was not to be however, as DItP were no shows.
After that brie disappointment, we were excited to catch Nightmare of You. NoY singer Brandon Reilly was the lead guitarist in a Long Island emo band called the Movielife, who broke up a few years ago. From the demise of the Movielife 2 great bands formed, those bands being Reilly's Nightmare of You and Movielife singer Vin Caruana's I Am the Avalanche. I enjoy both bands immensely (Although I like IATA better), so I was stoked to see NoY live. Reilly didn't speak much throughout the set, but did well to keep the crowd entertained with some reworked versions of songs that appeared on their self titled debut. Set highlights included "My Name Is Trouble", "The Days Go By Oh So Slow" and the single "I Want to Be Buried In Your Backyard". The new song, "Amsterdam" also went over quite well. Funny, I Am the Avalanche also have a new song called "Amsterdam". Anyway, aside from set closer "Heaven Runs On Oil", which ran on a little too long, Nightmare of You but on an excellent (and loud!) Cure tinged set of indie rock. We had a chance to speak to Brandon after their set as well and he was extremely gracious. Check out his brother Travis' band This Is Hell, if you haven't heard them, as they are excellent as well.
Next up was Saves the Day. Now, StD are a band that I have enjoyed since the Through Being Cool days, and needless to say I was excited to see them. However, their set felt pretty flat to me. First of all, they are pretty much The Chris Conley Band now, as the aforementioned singer remains their only original member. Joe and I debated on the way home whether or not after founding member and guitarist David Soloway departed earlier this year if Conley should have given up the band name Saves the Day. Anyway, Conley sounded very good but the band was boring to watch and their set was low on the rock and heavy on the snooze, as some of their songs tend to be. Staples like "Freakish", "Radio" and "Shoulder to the Wheel" sounded excellent, as boring as they were to watch, and brought me back to the halcyon days when I first picked up the band's CD because I had seen Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 fame sporting one of their shirts. I hate to be That Guy, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little bummed not to hear "At Your Funeral" and "Third Engine", as those were the two songs that got me into the band.
All bummer moods were soon forgotten, because shortly after Saves the Day let us, the kings returned. Alkaline Trio is a band that I have a very deep relationship with. Everyone has a few of those bands that just effect them differently from the plethora o other musicians that pass through their eardrums, and the Trio have just always struck a chord with me, especially singer/guitarist Matt Skiba. Skiba has always seemed to have the uncanny ability to write songs about my life; songs that pushed me through to the next day. I can't even begin to count how many of his lyrics I have scrawled in a notebook or sung to myself at night, when that last breakup just wouldn't leave my head. I have always held a deep admiration for him and seen him as the approachable poet with every day guy problems. Over the course of the last 6 years I have seen the band 8 times, and had yet to meet Mr. Skiba, despite waiting outside venues or untold hours. Would my luck change tonight? I'll get to that in a minute. First, the show.
Alkaline came out firing on all cylinders, opening with an old classic "My Friend Peter", which the crowd responded well to. The set was heavy on latter day material from 2005's Crimson and 2003's Good Mourning, but they were playing so well it didn't really bother me much. They threw in a couple more oldies like "Cooking Wine" and "Cringe", and only played two songs of last year's Agony & Irony. Set highlights included the fast paced "Fatally Yours" and "Donner Party", and set closer "This Could Be Love", during which Skiba implored the crowd to sing along, and they certainly did. One big, awesome surprise was the inclusion of "Sadie", Skiba's retelling of Manson Family killer Sadie Glutz's role in the Sharon Tate murder. I had never seen them play it before, but they pulled it off wonderfully and it just sounded amazing. They even kept in the recording of Sadie's testimony, which played over Derek Grant's thunderous drumming. The encore was a little short ("Every Thug Needs A Lady" and of course "Radio), but all in all it was an excellent set from an excellent band.
And did I meet Skiba? Yes, after a couple hours of waiting (Thanks Cait and Joe) I was able to procure autographs from all three members and shake Matt's hand. He was super nice, just like I'd hoped, and I think I even muttered something stupid about it being an honor to meet him. Isn't it great when your heroes don't let you down?
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