Modern Minstrels

Brand New at The Fillmore

Last week, Nick and I went to see Brand New at The Fillmore. I've been anticipating this show more than any other show I've ever been to. I've literally been waiting 3 solid years to see Brand New. The last time I had a chance to see them was in 2003, just after Deja Entendu came out. They played somewhere in SF, but it was when I was at Apple during my internship, and I didn't have a car and wasn't familiar enough with the trains to get up there, so I ended up not getting a ticket to the show, thinking I'd surely be able to see them again soon enough.

Fortunately, the show was totally worth the wait. From opening note of Tautou to the incredibly moving closing of Play Crack the Sky, I was riveted. Deja Entendu is one of the best albums of all time, so hearing those songs (they played everything except Good to Know) live for the first time was just amazing, particularly Sic Transit Gloria and Okay, I Believe You But My Tommygun Don't. They also played a handful of songs off of Your Favorite Weapon (including SoCo Amaretto Lime, which thrilled me to no end) and a few new songs from their new album coming out this fall.

Though they didn't speak to the crowd a whole lot, there were a few, what I consider classic Jesse lines. First before playing Me vs Maradona vs Elvis, he says something like "So when we've been playing this song, people always cheer at this one part, and I don't know why. It's not happy song. When I wrote this song, I never expected people to be cheering about it". The song's basically about a guy that leads a girl just for a one night stand and regretting it and the line people cheered at was "it's ladies' night, all the girls drink for free". The other classic moment was towards the end of the set, when he was thanking the crowd and said "You guys have been probably the best audience on this tour". Just in the way he said it, he totally conveyed the "yes, I say this at every show, but you're going to cheer anyway" and of course we all did. The way he said it reminds me of the way he sings the line, "I would kill for the Atlantic, but I am paid to make girls panic while I sing".

So throughout their set, it seemed to me like Jesse was a bit distracted, or just depressed. I wasn't really expecting a lot of crowd interaction, but still something seemed a bit off. And when Jesse came back on stage to do the solo acoustic Play Crack the Sky, we found out why. He said he had something to say, but he wasn't sure exactly how to say it. He wanted to apologize if he seemed detached, but his head was in another place entirely. He said he didn't think he'd ever regret bringing his brother on this tour, but for an hour or two this afternoon, he did. He then said this song goes out to my brother and my parents and it will take more than a truck to tear us apart. And then he started playing Play Crack the Sky, which is a rather sad song to begin with. Coupled with this extra emotion, it was an incredibly touching experience. He played up until the last or second to last time before the chorus, and then he just sort of stopped. Vinnie came out and the two of them hugged for a few seconds and Vinnie walked off stage. I thought Jessie would leave as well, but he picked up his guitar and finished the song flawlessly. An incredibly emotional end to an amazing show.

On our way out of the venue I overheard one of the Fillmore employees talking and he said yes, the lead singer's brother got hit by a truck earlier in the day and was in the hospital, and they weren't even sure if they were going to do the show until about 5 minutes before the show was supposed to start. But I guess at that point, his brother was in pretty stable condition. I haven't heard anything about how his brother is doing, by I can only hope and pray he's making a speedy recovery.