I hate ending on a negative, as this
concert did, so let’s get this out up front: Alkaline Trio needs to play longer
shows. There’s leaving people wanting more,
and there’s leaving them unfulfilled.
How can a 63-year-old like Bruce Springsteen tear through songs for four
hours, and a punk band barely more than half his age not make it 63
minutes? New bands like Givers and
Passion Pit can give you your money’s worth in a short time because they only
have one or two albums. When you’re up
to eight albums, though, it can’t work.
You can’t include enough new, old, known, and obscure songs. A show without “Radio,” “Armageddon,” “Mercy
Me,” “Private Eye,” "Stupid Kid," “Mr. Chainsaw,” “We’ve Had Enough,” and
anything off Agony and Irony has
issues. I know the band is not here to
disappoint, but fans don’t deserve that – they deserve more time.
Fortunately, during the minimal time
Alkaline Trio performed, they were great.
“Dead on the Floor” had a cool, slow-down instrumental towards the end,
“Crawl” had more rhythm shifts then I remembered, “Sadie” proved what a deep
reserve Crimson has, and the show featured
s satisfying mix of catchy new songs ("FBI,” “Warhol,” “Torture Doctor”) and
soulful old ones (“Clavicle,” “Blue Carolina,” “97”).
Couldn’t shout “Hell Yes” to the
show overall, but hopefully next time, with Kevyn Allgeier and a longer
setlist, the shout will return…
Grade: B
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