CONCERT REVIEW: Against Me! @ Great Plaza at Penn's Landing, 6/28

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CONCERT REVIEW: Against Me! @ Great Plaza at Penn's Landing, 6/28

POSTED: Tuesday, June 29, 2010, 4:37 PM

Filed Under: Music | Concert Review concert photos

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The members of Against Me! took the stage last night in all black, except for the silver rhinestones that embellished the lead singer Tom Gabel's cut-off denim vest. The color-cooridinated Florida foursome was the third band in line, after performances by The Henry Clay People (whose guitarist looks like that guy from the FreeCreditReport.com commercials) and Metric, and preceding Omaha-based headliners, The Silversun Pickups. While the crowd was already sweaty from the 80 degree weather and gross humidity, the fans there for Against Me! took careful note of the band's important exclamation mark and raised the temperature. With their hormones. From what I gathered, Against Me!'s fans can be categorized, for the most part, into two groups: The first is comprised of high school girls in pretty dresses, the second of young men who trick themselves out with mini-Mohawks, faded blue tattoo sleeves and black muscle tees. The merging of these two groups gave the band a receptive audience that kept energy high through the beginning parts of the performance. Their set was heavy on songs from their latest album, White Crosses but around the fifth song, the crowd started to get tired from thrashing about to the fast-paced punk jams, looking delirious and tired. When Gabel went into the latest album's most popular track, "I Was an Teenage Anarchist," the crowd regained their lost energy and started moshing in small circles, as if trying to emulate the song's nostalgia for teenage chaos. But Against Me!'s "anarchy" is a bit different (read: tamer) than the kind spoken of in classic punk-rock songs. Instead of wanting to destroy, Gabel is just kinda ponders it, singing, "Do you remember when you were young? / And you wanted to set the world on fire?" placing all that energy into a separate, dissociated time. Nonetheless, the band's youthful audience enjoyed the set, and probably left feeling they had seen something real.

Alyssa

Posted 2010-06-30 11:59:03

they were so good!! radio1045 put clips of the night on the website. i love these bands

http://www.radio1045.com/pages/promo/summer-show-2010.html

Posted by Marielle Mondon @ 4:37 PM Permalink | Post a comment

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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