the last time alkaline trio headlined a set in houston in october of 2008 had completely different circumstances. rise against canceled, so alkaline trio had to step up in typical “the show must go on!” fashion and play a short stint of headline sets. this time around, they’ve had minor major label success, a charting album in this addiction and fellow lushes cursive along for the ride for their own headlining tour. what’s come to be expected by any trio set these days is a fair share of cult classics and new songs, distributed evenly amongst an hour and a half set. having cursive on the tour was a huge bonus for myself, personally.

anyway, read on.

-grizzly

this night posed a huge problem for me, and i nearly didn’t make it to the alkaline trio/cursive stop. in typical bear fashion, it was a toss-up between this particular show and a free headline set from the clipse, which i’m aware of being on completely opposite ends of the spectrum. having the dear and departed open the show was not making me feel any better about my decision. trite, bland and highly unimaginative. opening bands aren’t trying to break that whole ‘every song sounds the same’ stereotype, huh? prior to the show, i had heard comparisons to the cure and descriptive phrases like “the new wave version of jimmy eat world,” both of which personally intrigued me, and both of which failed to prove themselves true on a live platform. i will give them the upper hand on merch though. highly reminiscent and derivative of the cures and joy divisions of the world.

tim kasher and his sad bastard crew of cursive was on deck. having been a fan since the domestica days, both sunbear and i were tad bit giddy to finally see cursive for the first time since we started listening to them. not that great of a fan, apparently. to kick things off, i found myself drowned out in sound to get any glimpse of what the first song was, as i was trying to be a photographer under the weakest of pretenses. going into the set, i expected a set heavy in mama, i’m swollen, but was quite thrilled when three songs from the ugly organ era were cast upon us (“sierra,” “red handed slight of hand,” “art is hard”).

kasher is a highly energetic frontman, displaying a more aggressive and intense vibe than his music ever let on. songs like “let me up” and “from the hips” were given a new breath on stage, while fan-pleasers like “the martyr” and “art is hard” went over smoothly on stage. between their intricacy on stage and my deep shame and regret for not having seen them sooner, cursive could not have been a better supporting band on this tour. it’s definitely a bummer to see them go under-appreciated, but there isn’t much the 30 actual cursive fans in the crowd could do about that.

next up was alkaline trio. the crew greeted the crowd and kicked off their set with their seventh album’s opener, “this addiction.” after hearing the crowd’s reaction to the band’s newest single, it was fairly obvious how the rest of their show would be received. from the glimpses of the setlist prior to the show, the proportion of old and new songs was distributed rather unevenly, weighing in heavy favor to the band’s former catalog.

skiba and andriano didn’t address the crowd or each other much between songs, but the two’s vocal performances were on par with one another. the set was often broken down into what i’d deem ‘mini-sets’ from the two singers, with series of 3, even 4 ‘dan’ songs in a row, succeeded by the same amount of ‘skiba’ songs. as a long time fan of dan’s songs personally, it was beyond great to be able to take notice of songs like “off the map” and “100 stories.” not to mention, the band happened to pay specific attention to 2003’s good mourning, my second favorite alkaline trio album. (six songs, y’all!)

from the crowd chants of “fuck you aurora” and breakneck speeds of “97” to the everlasting nostalgia of “radio” and “clavicle,” it’s safe to say that fans of alkaline trio’s back catalog left happy. there were a fair share of surprises and unexpected twists to the band’s set. each night, the band has been throwing a misfits cover of ‘attitude’ or ‘angelfuck’ in the mix, both of which are falling on deaf ears here. for a band with such an extensive catalog, i feel there are much more climactic ways of attributing to the concept of encore than a misfits cover. similarly, the complete neglect of 2008’s agony and irony was especially surprising.

after having seen “radio” close out many alkaline trio shows, i feel a more proper closer does not exist for the band. the sheer camaraderie that rains throughout the crowd is a sight in itself. bros arm in arm across the venue could not be more comforting of a send-off. after years in the touring circuit, alkaline trio managed to pull off yet another headline tour for another full-length record successfully, with the finesse and ease of a band that’s been around for a decade and a half should have.

————————————————————————————–
[SETLIST]

[alkaline trio]

[cursive]

a song i didn’t recognize
dorothy at 40
sierra
from the hips
retreat
some red handed slight of hand
let me up
big bang
i couldn’t love you
the martyr
art is hard

sorry no video, folks. for some reason, my media pass didn’t allow for me to bring a recorder into warehouse live, so these shifty pictures will have to do.

xoxo,
grizzly