Driven Far Off

Show Review: Brand New, feat. Colour Revolt
Venue: Kool Haus (Capacity: 2000), Toronto, Ontario
July 22nd, 2006

Let it be hereby known that the best four minutes of my entire nineteen-year existence were spent in the middle of the Kool Haus in Toronto, Ontario belting out the words â┚¬Ã‹Å“gave up my body & bed, all for an empty hotel; wasting words on lower cases & capitalsâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢ at the top of my lungs surrounded by 2000 other Brand New fans. That, in and of itself, made this one of my top 5 concerts of all time. Now, here is the REAL review of the show:
We got to the concert about a half hour before doors opened. The line-up was already wrapped four blocks around the building. These were dedicated kids. Being the jerk that I am, and having paid my dues in free labour for the music industry, we went inside the venue and put up a bunch of promo posters, thus having primo choice of standing spot. We didnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t punk the good spots â┚¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ we left those for the kids waiting outside all day, and instead stood just in front of the mixing board, in the centre of the room. The band Colour Revolt was doing their soundcheck at this point, and there were about 10 people in the room, including Jesse Lacey, and two other members of Brand New (it must be noted at this time that I do consider Brand New to be one of my top 3 favourite bands of all time, yet I still canâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t recognize all of its members). Anyhow, after watching the band soundcheck and admiring Jesse Lacey from afar (Iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m much too shy to approach him, or any member of most bands, for the record), the doors were open.

We waited for an hour â┚¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ which was not fun. Then, Colour Revolt took to the stage. After the show, I spoke to a random guy who seemed to know them and found that they are presently unsigned, working off a distribution deal with Interscope records (undoubtedly struck up around the same time that Brand New made the move to Interscope). Their style was very much Coldplay for me, with a bit more of a screaming touch. I enjoyed their set, but found it to be too long for an opening band. They had some amp problems, but to cover for it, the guitarist took it upon himself to lead the crowd in a rousing rendition of â┚¬Ã‹Å“Oh Canadaâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢. He knew all the words, and being from Mississippi, this was no easy feat. When their set was finally over, I cannot say it wasnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t a welcome finish. Good music, good guys, but an overly long set due to illness from the 2nd opening band.

Brand New opened with Tatou. I was sort of expecting this â┚¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s definitely just that type of â┚¬Ã‹Å“introductionâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢ song. I had been waiting to see Brand New do this shit live since I was in the tenth grade, and I was nervous that they would disappoint. They did not.

After Tatou, Jesse seemed to have a few monitoring problems, resulting in a couple off-key notes. He was adjusting his earpiece and playing guitar and trying to sing in-key, all at the same time. By the third song, however, all seemed to be fixed because he was back in key, and singing strongly. I cannot remember the whole set list. I wish I could. I wish I had every second of this show engraved into my brain forever, but I donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t. They played some great songs â┚¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows (my personal favourite long before it was released as a single); Play Crack the Sky; Tatou; Guernica; Seventy Times 7; Sic Transit Gloria; The Boy who Blocked his Own Shot; and many more.

It took a fair amount of time for them to delve into material from the first album, but the first song they sang from it (Shower Scene) was phenomenal. This concert is difficult for me to write about because I am continuously tempted to write shit like this:

This concert was fucking AMAZING. WOW! Like when Jesse did that acoustic song, didnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t you love it!? How fucking great was it when he played Guernica!? His voice sounds great live, I was hoping it wouldnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t be bad, and it wasnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t! Iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m so glad they didnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t fuck up the harmonies on â┚¬Ã‹Å“The Quiet Thingsâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢! WOW! It was just so phenomenalâ┚¬Ã‚¦

No one reading a concert review needs to read crap like that, but it seems that the amazing concert that took place tonight scrambled all of my brain functionality. All I can say is this: You need to see Brand New in concert if you havenâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t yet. It should be one of those cardinal things that you absolutely must do before dying. A right of passage into the world of amazing music. Though the rest of the band often took a backseat in the spotlight to Lacey, they are what truly made the show.

Honestly, I promise to revise this review when my brain returns to normal and I can function as a normal human being. I guess you could say Brand New truly blew my mind. We tried to invite Jesseâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s little brother out for wonton soup, at the request of Jesse while on stage (â┚¬Ã…”Someone take my little brother out â┚¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ he has until 3am, so show him a good time. I keep saying this, but no one actually does. They just take pictures with him instead.â┚¬?), but we feared our social credibility would be ruined by the fact that instead of going to get high and drunk with the rest of the Brand New fans from the show, we were, in fact, going out for wonton soup.

Thatâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s allâ┚¬Ã‚¦ for now.