I forgot about scale.

UIC Pavilion is one of Chicago’s largest venues, holding about 10,000 people. I understood that RISE AGAINST should play there but couldn’t or didn’t internalize what it meant. It meant distance. (It also meant getting my press credentials was nearly labyrinthine. But that’s hardly a problem with the concert and mostly me needing to say somewhere the gig was comped.)

RISE of course overcame it but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Scranton, PA’s The MENZINGERS came on first. The last time I saw them it was at a venue so tiny it didn’t bother with a barrier. At UIC, I watched them from the other side of the stadium. Yea… They emoted well, and the new songs, “The Obituaries” and another I didn’t recognize sounded even better inside a stadium. I hope, deeply, that I’ll see THE MENZINGERS somewhere smaller soon.

I tried, very hard, to ignore A DAY TO REMEMBER. I went to the merchant booth, I urinated, I read Labyrinths by Borges. But, finally I succumbed and paid attention. They weren’t bad! Not great, but hey, “All I Want” was played well and when the singer said something that didn’t sound like canned banter it seemed sincerely thankful. A metal LESS THAN JAKE, Brendan Kelly called them and it sounds about right. There were massive gusts of air (obviously meant to be flames) to punctuate the moments in songs that seemed a bit too stadium-y for my tastes. Then again, this is a stadium.

I forgot how many hits RISE AGAINST has…

More after the jump

I could quibble with the setlist, I suppose. No “Architects,” but “Blood To Bleed”? Seriously, as a person that’s been seeing RISE AGAINST for nine years now, the only omission I can think of is “Architects.” I have seen them play “State Of The Union” enough times that a) I’m not disappointed if they don’t play it b) it doesn’t make sense to play that song in front of 10,000 people.

Also: 10,000 people. Fuck. I remember seeing RISE AGAINST at 2003 Warped. I was at the SSCC release show at the Metro. I blasted the reissue of the Unraveling on my way to college, played The Sufferer & The Witness constantly junior year and oh God, I shouldn’t continue…

But. “Swing Life Away” was huge, as it ought to be. So was “Give It All” and “Ready To Fall.” I feel proud of RISE AGAINST even if I have no right to be. I’m not in that band, I’m a interested well-wisher, for Christ’s sake. Maybe our Dear Editor was right when he said RA is this generation’s BAD RELIGION. I never quite understood what he meant when he did, but hearing the battery of hits played had a powerful cumulative effect. I think I get it now. RISE AGAINST is now a band I can safely say I’ve grown with. I can point you to the parts of “Broken English” that don’t play as deftly as later songs.

The songs I didn’t know from Endgame gave me a chance to catch my breath and while I wish there were more early songs, or at least “Survive,” the tour laminate proclaimed this The Endgame Tour 2012, so no dice. It seems kind of silly to comment on the screens or the things around the band, but there was a fairly tasteful bunch of screens on the stage.

Worth mentioning: The concert stopped, dead, when the band saw that a young lady (supposedly) had been trampled underfoot and for a good 10 odd minutes, the house lights were on and the music stopped. When she got up and was escorted out by security and the paramedics RISE AGAINST called for, there were cheers and RISE started from the place in “the Strength To Go On” where they stopped. I think they ended with “Savior,” but the momentum was lost.

After the show, I stepped out of the cavernous venue into Chicago’s cold winter with omnipresent flurries. It looked like a movie set, but I swear, the snowflakes were massive and not too heavy. It was a moment of scenic, understated beauty. Of course, it was intruded on by other concertgoers talk about shooting off weapons and being regretful that they didn’t blow up a cow with a rocket launcher in Cambodia on the narrow train platform, so yeah, there’s work to be done. But still. For the bullshit that comes with an arena show (I’d have paid the $32-$38 ticket price, no coordination between the left hand and right hand to get me into the venue) RISE made it worth it.

I hope their next show is at the United Center.