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Brand New

live in New York
2006
live show

Review by: Brian
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Published on December 12th 2006

As I had no interest in seeing Dashboard Confessional, I tried not to curse him under my breath for taking out Brand New on tour and forcing me into the vacuous spaciousness of a stadium to see them. I hadn't seen the band in three years and even the scary size of...gulp...Madison Square Garden wouldn't stop me.

At just before 7:30 P.M. the band responsible for one of the year's best albums took the stage. Unfortunately, they really failed to drive my opinion home. After some collaborative noise the sloppy bassline to "Sic Transit Gloria" finally tripped forth, but I wouldn't even recognize it until Jesse Lacey sang its opening lines off-kilter. Already, things seemed awfully sloppy, and this was a theme that would continue through the set. Atop of that was MSG's horrid sounding acoustics; everything sounded thin and messy booming echoes through the space. On many of the songs the band even employed a third guitarist, but it was only another layer upon a dissonance that appeared in all the wrong places of Brand New's songs.

Not to discredit the playing completely, it was beautiful to hear the band's new post-rock influence infect the songs not on The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me. "Jaws Theme Swimming" rang with some beautiful, shimmering guitars not found on the studio version, while the set itself found Lacey ringing his guitar alone for a pretty, siren-esque closer. Every band member exhibited full-throttled energy, Vin Accardi heaving his guitar into the air several times and everyone generally taking advantage of the wide-reaching expanses of the stage.

Lacey himself was often slurring his speech between songs and stumbling around a bit during them. Throughout "Luca"'s loud dynamic he lost his mind, simply running around and blatantly tripping over probably a wire at one point. At another point he shared some standard incredulity; "It's hard to believe where we are right now." Upon the conclusion of his aforementioned ringing guitar at the end of the set closer, he quickly thanked the crowd in German and departed stage left. He was just a strange character through the 49-minute set.

While I craved a number of Raging's cuts for the live treatment (namely "Jesus Christ," "Millstone," and "Archers," none of here which were delivered), the set list was still divvied up well considering: four from that album, three from 2003's Deja Entendu, and a pleasantly surprising cut from 2001's Your Favorite Weapon -- "The Shower Scene," whose reckless abandon made for a much needed juxtaposition.

I'll chalk up much of my disappointment to the band's own confines -- an opening set and a cavernous stadium's acoustics. I can't really ask for much considering the circumstances, but the band probably could've toned it down a little if it meant playing a little more coordinated.

Set list (7:28-8:17):

Sic Transit Gloria - Glory Fades
The Shower Scene
Jaws Theme Swimming
Sowing Season (Yeah)

Luca

Degausser
You Won't Know

Okay, I Believe You But My Tommy Gun Don't

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Posted by rkl on 2006-12-15 21:23:50

so the live show was absolutely horrible, but it gets an above-average rating...
how the fuck does that work?

Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, December 14, 2006 at 10:43 AM (EST)

if no drugs are involved with brand new.....id be surprised.

Posted by Scruffy on 2006-12-13 23:07:49

"you just described a band that was basically an apathetic drunken trainwreck."

I know. It sounds like a 10 to me.

Posted by kenjamin on 2006-12-13 17:48:00

oh I've been to the Beacon Theater before and it's a helluva lot smaller than MSG. I definitely appreciated the plush seating with the high thread count though.

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 at 5:03 PM (EST)

Funny that you mention Aerosmith considering they played the Beacon Theatre on the Upper West Side like three days before Dashboard headlined MSG.

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 at 10:41 AM (EST)

same setlist they gave us in philly. yea i blame anything lousy about it on the huge fucking concert halls they play in since they truck around with dashboard... i agree that the beginning of sic transit was almost unrecognizable. but the performance of the newer songs was what counts, i think. you can tell they only really care about playing a few of the old ones anymore, they've moved on and their new shit is much cooler.

they are a great live band though; great energy, you can tell they're really feelin it, jesse'll improv a little from time to time; they keep things interesting

Posted by Not-To-Regret on 2006-12-13 06:28:50

Wyzo...
I love radiohead; but I'm a stoner, so I guess that helps me enjoy a wide pallete of music. Radiohead is good, and Thom is very talented, regardless of if you like them are not. Of course, I completly ignored them until a couple years ago, like so many other bands I've come to love...

Posted by kenjamin on 2006-12-13 00:47:33

Yea i thought only bands like aerosmith sold out madison square garden. Last time I was there was to see Diana Ross and it wasn't even sold out!

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 at 12:28 AM (EST)

three stars???? seriously?

you have to be kidding me. you just described a band that was basically an apathetic drunken trainwreck. but since you like the bands album you gave the performance 3 stars.

you have no cred

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 at 12:27 AM (EST)

three stars???? seriously?

you have to be kidding me. you just described as basically, an apathetic drunken trainwreck. but since you like the bands album you gave the performance 3 stars.

you have no cred

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 at 12:25 AM (EST)

yes this show was sold out.

its pretty amazing if you think about it. its fucking madison sq. garden.

man...

Posted by kenjamin on 2006-12-12 23:07:31

It finally seeped in... Dashboard Confessional headlined Madison Square Garden!? wow. Good for him.

To anyone that went to this: was this show sold out?

Posted by danperrone on 2006-12-12 23:02:26

"DanPerrone -- You can argue that "Untitled" is an interlude, but "Welcome to Bangkok" is its own coherent song. I'm sorry man, just give it up."

perhaps interlude was not the word i was looking for

filler is more like it

Posted by shanholtzer on 2006-12-12 22:17:06

The fucking internet dude holy shit

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 6:09 PM (EST)
My Score:

"it definatly isn't America's Radiohead like AP dubbed"

I don't like Britain's Radiohead, let alone a yankee version.

Who would wish that on anyone?

I may disagree with you, I love the band even more based on this review, I typically hate bands that came from their background, grouping of fellow bands, but at 24 years of age, I dig there last 2 records.

However, I think we can join together in wondering who at AP comes up with bullshit like "the american radiohead".

Is it scott?

...kidding, jokes.....

wyzo

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 5:36 PM (EST)

I don't get what the big fuss with this band is. I really liked deja when it first came out but then again when that came out I was 16. Being 20 now, my tastes are more developed. I burnt the new disc from a friend out of curiousity, not terrible for a band opening for dashboard all the time but it definatly isn't America's Radiohead like AP dubbed.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 4:32 PM (EST)

I really thought about going to this show. The new album is fantastic and without a doubt their best stuff, though I enjoy the other material, too. But I was not thrilled about what it meant to open for Dashboard, namely the price of the ticket, the opening slot in a huge concert, MSG, and of course it being a Dashboard show. I would jumped at the opportunity to see them play a real show in the city, no question.

Posted by Archangel on 2006-12-12 16:31:09

DanPerrone -- You can argue that "Untitled" is an interlude, but "Welcome to Bangkok" is its own coherent song. I'm sorry man, just give it up.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 2:49 PM (EST)

this band is really overratted

Posted by danperrone on 2006-12-12 14:31:31

and a 3 minutes interlude does not constitute an influence!

Posted by danperrone on 2006-12-12 14:30:51

also...8 songs in 49 minutes...WEAK

Posted by danperrone on 2006-12-12 14:30:07

"Did you listen to that first instrumental song on Raging? It's most obvious there."

well, yeah...cause it's instrumental

Posted by Archangel on 2006-12-12 14:28:10

I'll back you up, Brian. All I thought when I heard "Welcome to Bangkok" the first time was "Mogwai?"

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 2:19 PM (EST)

Post-rock? WTF is that? Are you referring to some abstract after rock thing, or not rock, or post-punk.

Either way, the phrase is damn stupid

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 2:03 PM (EST)
My Score:

I saw them play and honestly even though they seemed off at times there energy and overall performance was incredible.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 12:36 PM (EST)
My Score:

Go fuck yourself you slimy little bitch.

Posted by inagreendase on 2006-12-12 12:34:41

awww brian, post-rock influence???? come onnnnnn

Trust me, I'm not the only one who hears this. There's a throng of people who will back me up on it. Did you listen to that first instrumental song on Raging? It's most obvious there.

Posted by danperrone on 2006-12-12 11:35:22

awww brian, post-rock influence???? come onnnnnn

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 11:23 AM (EST)

Big words = not punx.

- The Casualties

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 9:12 AM (EST)

As compared to their albums, I have to say that Brand New is NOT a good live band. Sure they (usually) have lots of energy, but they're sloppy, Jesse's vocals are always a bit off, and the sound quality is never close to the quality of their recordings. Yes, I understand, when you overproduce the shit out of something, you're not gonna sound as smoothly in a living setting, but some bands can pull this off. Brand New cannot.

I also always disliked how Lacey would layer about 7 vocal tracks on the albums when the band doesn't have strong back-up singers to sing them live. Vin's an alright singer, but his vocals always sound kinda crappy to me compared to the album where Jesse does all the vocals. Plus Jesse always sings the harmonies to his melodies for some reason, which is ok to change the song up a bit in a live setting, but he does it for every single song.

Just some observations. I do enjoy their music, but I just don't think they're a good live band.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 9:00 AM (EST)

You heard it here first: Deja was unintentionally brilliant and the band will be trying to live up to it or down to it for the rest of their careers.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 8:51 AM (EST)
My Score:

when i saw this review on the list, i immediately thought "4 stars or better".

score is for not giving the now Punknews minimum score.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 8:02 AM (EST)

I saw them in Toronto for the same tour.... I would have to agree with this reviewer. They just seemed like they didn't want to be there, playing an energetic, yet very uneventful set.

Posted by kenjamin on 2006-12-12 01:29:08

hahaha. Hey, I'm just sticking up for the rest of us orgers who read at a sixth grade level.

Posted by Archangel on 2006-12-12 01:10:18

Don't worry dude, I had to look up vacuous too.

Wait no, shut up.

Posted by kenjamin on 2006-12-12 01:00:29

I bet you're pretty stoked on that thesaurus your grandma bought you.

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