Live Wired [Review]: Brand New 12/31
posted in: Features • Rock
Here at Live Wired, we couldn’t think of a better way to bring in the new year than to see one of our favorite bands perform. Last Saturday, on New Year’s Eve, Brand New performed at the House of Blues in Atlantic City to a sold-out crowd. Since the 2009 release of their album Daisy and subsequent tour, the band has mostly played one-off shows. However, the fact that this gig was one of those few shows was far from the most special thing about the night. For fans that traveled from all over the country to see Brand New play, the band put on one hell of a performance”they dressed up in suits for the occasion and treated the crowd to three different sets throughout the night.
The band kicked off the first part of the night with an entirely acoustic set. Two obvious choices for this part, ˜The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot and Play Crack The Sky, translated into beautiful and heartfelt performances, with the crowd singing along to every word. They mixed it up a bit by choosing to play Sic Transit Gloria¦Glory Fades, a much more aggressive song that seems like it wouldn’t work acoustically. They proved us wrong and turned the rendition into something wonderful, with the crowd and frontman Jesse Lacey singing different parts of the chorus.
In celebration of the tenth anniversary of their first full-length album, Brand New filled the middle section of the show by playing all of Your Favorite Weapon from start to finish. Jesse Lacey, who isn’t normally very talkative during performances, was all smiles as he told the crowd the story of Last Chance To Lose Your Keys, which ended with him having to break in to his own car. The band timed this set perfectly, and started playing the last song on the album, Soco Amaretto Lime, about eight minutes before midnight. The song would’ve normally ended a few minutes short, but the band and the crowd kept going. Everyone continued to repeat the line you’re just jealous cause we’re young and in love over and over until it was 2012. Confetti exploded over the crowd and balloons dropped down from the ceiling to ring in the new year.
The night ended with an all requests set, which consisted of songs from the bands’ three other albums. The crowd went crazy for rarely played songs like Moshi Moshi, but possibly the best performance of the night came during You Won’t Know. The raw energy and emotion in Jesse’s voice that makes their music so powerful was displayed brilliantly as they closed out the entire show with this song. At the end, Jesse destroyed his guitar and their drummer started handing pieces of his drum set to the crowd. It was an insanely wonderful performance and definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience.