Percussive, rhythmic tunes like "New Wave" or "Miami" sounded fine. "Don't Lose Touch" was a train-wreck. The band may not be entirely to blame, as I'm not sure the sound guys could wrap their heads around the band's augmented sound. Some speakers blew during "I Was a Teenage Anarchist" and Tom's vocals were a static mess through set-closer "Sink, Florida, Sink." He slammed his mic stand to the floor following his final verse and stormed off stage to huge applause.
Against Me! slowly won over the crowd early on with favorites like "Pints of Guinness Make You Strong" and "Thrash Unreal," and managed to coax a mosh pit during new tune "High Pressure Low" to the bewilderment of the nearby overdressed female Silversun Pickups fans. The joke was on the moshers a bit later as Against Me! slowed things down a bit with "Bamboo Bones" and "Suffocation" off the new album, White Crosses. The pit insisted on continued dancefloor collisions for a few moments until one bro-tard stopped, faced the band, and raised his arms to showcase two down-turned thumbs or two middle fingers (he switched it up every once in a while).
[image-1]Silversun Pickups [pictured right] took the stage gently, awash in soft, purple light for "Growing Old Is Getting Old" with the earlier PA issues remedied. During "Well Thought Out Twinkles," I couldn't help but picture The Muppet Show's Animal while watching drummer Christopher Guanlao, a blur of swirling hair pointing his right stick skyward before every bang of the snare. Bassist Nikki Monninger got huge cheers during every one of her verses and bass solos. Around this time, I noticed I was standing behind the same boo-bird and middle-finger brandishing bro from the Against Me! pit. A nearby woman asked him if he was having such an awful time, why doesn't he get the fuck out of the way? He obliged, and thankfully, that was the last I saw of him.
Capably warmed up, frontman Brian Aubert delicately snarled "We are ready for the siege / We are armed up to the teeth" as if readying for battle with the opening synchronized guitar and synthesized strings of "The Royal We." An eruption of constant applause, the type usually reserved for that time between the set closer and encore, followed. Aubert, all smiles, basked in the adulation and raised his cup of beer to the crowd. He waxed nostalgic about the band's now legendary 2007 gig at Crowbar, then got back to work. He would mischievously slink around the stage, smile on his face, drenching his guitar in delay and feedback during a long "Panic Switch" interlude.
Follow Joel on twitter @lifeindeadtime.
Against Me!
White Crosses
Pints of Guinness Make You Strong
Thrash Unreal
Rapid Decompression
High Pressure Low
Don't Lose Touch
Miami
I Still Love You Julie
Bamboo Bones
Suffocation
New Wave
White People For Peace
I Was a Teenage Anarchist
Sink, Florida, Sink
Silversun Pickups
Growing Old Is Getting Old
Well Thought Out Twinkles
Sort Of
There's No Secrets This Year
The Royal We
Little Lover's So Polite
It's Nice To Know You Work Alone
Future Foe Scenarios
Kissing Families
Catch And Release
Panic Switch
Lazy Eye
E: Substitution
Rusted Wheel
Common Reactor
More pictures by Nicole from the show below; to check out her complete Silversun Pickups gallery, click here; for her Against Me! gallery, click here.
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