By Samuel Rubenfeld
From the ashes of the former club Northsix came the Music Hall of Williamsburg, built with plans to be operated by Bowery Presents, a booking company trying to rival the corporate superpower Ticketmaster in its scope of venues and talent throughout New York City. The New York Times cited its opening as “the latest development in a building spree that has radically changed the live-music landscape of New York over the last few years.
But who was to open this brand new venue in Brooklyn?
Dates were booked long before construction was completed, and the confirmed inaugural performer Patti Smith’s show on Tuesday, Sept. 4, was moved to Thursday night in order to finish construction. This left Gainesville, FL upstarts Against Me! to take the mantle as the band to open Brooklyn’s new 550-capacity venue on Wednesday, Sept. 5, which still smelled like fresh paint and wet concrete upon entering.
The performance was a raucous affair, replete with moshing, fighting, spitting and stage-diving during the hour-long set for the folk-punk rockers. The band’s sound has seen a long evolution since its inception; frontman Tom Gabel began the project as a guerilla tour-de force with an acoustic guitar, an anarchist message and a never-ending scream. It has grown into a four-piece with electric guitars, a major record label contract (Sire) and the help of A-list producers such as Butch Vig (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins).
To say that the fans have supported the recent major label contract and new record (“New Wave”) is quite disingenuous. During their last tour, Against Me! had the tires slashed and graffiti sprayed on their tour bus. New songs received boos and “sellout” calls.
Given all this baggage, the band turned out an excellent, if business-like, set. Playing nearly 30 songs in their 65 minutes onstage, Against Me! left very little time for recreation or talking. Instant mayhem ensued when they opened with “Cliché Guevara,” off their debut full length “…As The Eternal Cowboy.”
Even most of the new songs fared well. This is the official “New Wave” tour, and eight of the record’s 10 tracks were played as most fans, though not nearly as into the songs, appreciatively sung their lungs out. The song protesting protests, “White People for Peace” was as noisy as expected and even the dance-punk “Stop,” about the attraction of signing to a major label (the song most irritating to longtime fans) translated well in the live setting.
Fans were delighted by the four-song, nine-minute encore that featured two of the band’s biggest songs: “Baby, I’m an Anarchist” and “Walking is Still Honest.”
The rest of the show’s lineup was very diverse. Keys-and-drums duo Matt & Kim, from (literally) down the street in Williamsburg, churned out upbeat dance music which oddly led to some nonviolent and humorous moshing, and ultimately some hilarious crowdsurfing during their closer “Yeah, Yeah.”
David Dondero, the accomplished folk rocker known for his band, This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb, staggered through a brilliant set of acoustic music about long liquored nights and lost lovers. Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes has cited Dondero’s distressed vocal style as a major influence on him.
Grade: B+
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