Brand New @ RIT 12/14/2007
I had another chance to check out one of my favorite bands on Friday; Brand New. I’m not a fan of seeing bands at colleges, because it always seems that the students are just there because “everyone else” is doing it, but it did seem the crowd actually wanted to be there and were fans of the artists. I missed opening band Me Without You (because I was late) but I did get a chance to check out Thrice. I have a couple Thrice albums, and also the Dustin Kensrue solo album, but I wouldn’t say I am a huge fan. Digging that Alt Country sound, I really enjoyed Dustin’s album Please Come Home, and was impressed at how much of a departure it was from any Thrice material to date. Still, I am an alternative / alternative metal fan, and was looking forward to seeing what Thrice was all about. The band to me, sounded very tight. Kensrue obviously can sing, and I enjoyed the show. They played a couple of new songs (new to me at least) and the crowd seemed to enjoy the show. I will have to go back to my iTunes library and listen to those Thrice albums some more.
On to why I was really there; to see Brand New! When you see the same band on the same tour, you are always assuming the set list will not change. To my surprise Brand New really mixed up the set list from the last time I saw them, playing a mostly new set, with some oldies thrown in. They played every song of off The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me, with the exception of “untitled” although the encore jam, seemed to mimic “untitled”. All in all I thought the show was great, and the sound was excellent. Sometimes gyms aren’t the best place to see shows for acoustic reasons, but the sound guy was on top of things and did a good job. They didn’t play many songs off of Deja, but that is ok, I enjoyed hearing the latest songs live. The show was stopped because someone was injured down in the pit, so maybe they took a couple songs out of the set list to make up time, I don’t know.
If you have the means, I highly recommend checking out a Brand New show in your area. Or better yet, drive your ass somewhere and check them out!