Concert Review: Brand New 7/12 @ The Mann Center

If I could go back to 2004 and give my 14-year-old self one piece of music-related advice it might be this: "Go see Brand New as soon as possible, because if you wait 10 years you will be disappointed." (I also might tell myself to accept that Fall Out Boy would take a sharp nosedive after Take This to Your Grave and that no, you will not ever regret skipping Warped Tour). 

Going into last Saturday's show I was in that weird giddy head space that's specifically reserved for adults revisiting the things that carried them through their formative years. I was all set to sit to sing along with like-minded fans to all of our favorite Brand New songs under the stars with the Philly Skyline at our backs. The weather was perfect, the beer was flowin' and I was congratulating myself for sneaking in some vokda-laced gummy bears, because I love sugar, I love booze and I have zero shame. English alt rock trio Dinosaur Pile-Up kicked off the show in a spectacular manner. They were super fun and, at various times, reminiscent of The Pixies, The Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana. They were a perfect fit for a blanket-sitting, beer-drinking crowd of hipsters sitting outside mid-July. Turns out, they were probably the highlight of the show.

Man Man did their usual frenetic set of songs (noises). Other than the vague impression that the lead singer may or may not have been rocking some kind of silver, hooded, poncho-looking getup I can't rightfully comment on much else. It was fun, this is when most of my gummy bear eating happened and that's about all I have to say about that. 

Finally, it was time for Brand New. They started off with Vices, which was neither totally expected nor wildly unexpected. It was a great way to set the tone for an energetic, hard-hitting set. But if the set was meant to take the audience on a ride, I must've just missed the boat. I spent the next hour or so waiting (and waiting) for the band to get to the good stuff, so to speak. I can accept that artists want to play new music. I know you're not 23 anymore and while I would have loved to hear "Jude Law and a Semester Abroad" or "The Shower Scene" I can accept that maybe you've moved past that a bit  (although somehow "Seventy Times 7" seems to still be fair game?). What I was kind of expecting to hear was "Guernica" and I definitely thought the inclusion of their first big single "The Quiet Things..." would have been a safe bet. Apparently, I would have lost that bet. Even when some of my favorites  were played, I felt like I was part of a giant audience participation karaoke jam session where Jesse Lacey harmonized and rifted off of his own songs and let the crowd handle the rest. It could just be my imagination, but I'm pretty sure "Sic Transit Gloria..." was played slightly up tempo to get it out of the way. I wouldn't have been surprised if he pulled out a kazoo halfway through the show and ended the set by "singing" with that instead of his voice. At the end of the show, when the girl behind me reverently intoned "I just saw Brand New" my only response was "...kinda."

Even knowing the show was sold out I never quite understood how it got to be that way and who Brand New's fans were. I've seen and heard quite a few fans (IRL and on the interwebs) call them Gods...and it seems like a literal perception. As in, literally, you are in the presence of an otherworldly being if Lacey is on stage. I love Brand New. I remember going to the FYE in The Gallery (because buying CDs was still a thing then) and listening to it non-stop for, like, a month. But I think I must've been in the bathroom when the cups of Kool-Aide were handed out, because they are basically the Jim Jones of alt rock bands. I still love Brand New, but not enough to worship them with a single-minded devotion that makes them think it's cool to skip the songs that got them where they are or half-sing the ones they deign to play. For the record, my ire is somewhere below the time Nine Inch Nails skipped "Closer" and above the time Deathcab for Cutie skipped "The Sound of Settling" (because apparently that's a thing bands do now). Luckily, I'll have a chance to give the whole affair a second shot when Brand New plays Riotfest in Toronto this September. Meh.

---

SETLIST:

Vices
Sink
Gasoline
At the Bottom
You Stole
Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades
I Will Play My Game Beneath the Spin Light
The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot
Okay I Believe You, but My Tommy Gun Don't
Seventy Times 7
Sowing Season
Millstone
Limousine (MS Rebridge)
Jesus
Degausser
You Won't Know

ENCORE:

Nothing. Fuck you Philadelphia.