BRAND NEW @ The Vic, Chicago, IL 3/21/07 Show Review by James Hepplewhite
BRAND NEW still had their watches set to Eastern time. That's the only explanation I can come up with. Usually, headlining groups start around 9 and end around 10:15, but on March 21st, during their second Chicago stop at the Vic, it would appear BRAND NEW had other plans. But I'm getting ahead of myself. At 8:10, BRAND NEW took the stage, opening with "Sowing Season", Jesse Lacey and company performing capably, buoyed by the crowd's energetic response "I am not your friend!". "Millstone" came next, and the long since sold out crowd roared right back.
But then, the music got slower. That was when I noticed, wait, there's two drumsets. And an extra guitarist, sandwiched between the two kits. Not surprisingly, these extra performers were called out only for material from the Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me. I wasn't terribly familiar with Devil and God, so during much of the new material, I felt like I was marking time. BRAND NEW seemed to be in their own world during the selections from Devil and God and I started getting something very different than my expectations. I also started getting bored and impatient. When the band did choose to address the crowd, to introduce "Play Crack the Sky" as a response to ARCHERS OF LOAF and part of being brought up in Long Island, "surrounded by water", he was drowned out by bro-magnons screaming. Ditto for the introduction of "Me. Vrs. Madonna Vrs. Elvis" as "I wrote this song tongue in someone else's cheek", he said, before his voice, even amplified through the speakers, was interrupted by some dudes going "woooohoooo."
In short: There wasn't as much audience interaction as I was hoping for. I wanted to be singing along rather than thinking "oh, that part sounds cool." Perhaps it was because of that, that an old friend of mine, an AMP contributor, put it like this, "it felt like a chunk of a BRAND NEW set was missing." The set was heavy on material from Deja Entendu (I'm recalling everything but "Guernica" was played, which, in my opinion, was by far, the best song on that disc...) and The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me, and two nuggets from Your Favorite Weapon, "The Shower Scene" and the "No Seatbelt Song," which seemed energize the stage.
In the end though, I left disapointed. It's not just that they didn't play stuff from Your Favorite Weapon, but the tease of what would happen if they did. During "Sic Transit Gloria...Glory Fades", Jesse Lacey was overpowered by the sold out crowd. Not just during the chorus (where Mr. Lacey wisely stepped away from the microphone, letting 2,000+ voices take over for him), but during the entire goddamn song. And with that kind of a reaction, I was salivating for a crack at "Jude Law" or "Magazines" or "Guernica," where BRAND NEW might pick up the pace and tempo.
It wasn't that BRAND NEW's performance during the new material lacked energy, but it didn't interest me. Guitarist Vin Acardia seemed to be able to keep his hood up and rock out most of the time, Jesse Lacey emoted well, notably during an improvisation around the end of "Jaws Theme Swimming,", and the drummer attacked his kit during the entire set with a ferocity I've seen only in shark attacks.
As the epic closure of "You Won't Know" faded from my ears, and the lights were turned back on at 9:40, I wondered. I couldn't say it was a bad set. It just wasn't what I wanted. What I wanted, though, was more moments where people were screaming back with me "Die young and save yourself!" Maybe next time.
