When my friend Alejandro hooked me up with a ticket to the second night of Brand New's sold-out stay at the Electric Factory, I wasn't expecting an old-school hardcore show. The all Long Island lineup drew fans of the differing styles of each of Brand New's diverse albums, along with a huge contingent of Glassjaw fans eager to see a band coming off a long hiatus.
Openers Crime in Stereo got things started without being particularly impressive, setting the tone with a hard-hitting set delivered nonchalantly beneath dim lighting.
Glassjaw took the stage in a unique semi-circular formation occasionally completed by frontman Daryl Palumbo as he drunkenly stalked around the stage. The setup made the entire show seem as if they were practicing onstage, understandable for a band that hadn't played publicly since 2004. The crowd was slightly older than usual for a hardcore show, and the mosh pit jammed full of drinkers who rushed down from the balcony bar when Glassjaw took the stage. Technical flawlessness coupled with their bizarre formation made for a mesmerizing stage presence.
Each successive album from Brand New has evolved their style, and their latest effort "Daisy" is no exception. Far from their pop-punk roots, and even further from the indie ethos of "The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me", the new record is significantly more hardcore, filled with heavy riffs supporting Jesse Lacey's screaming vocal. Even the older material was played in this style, with a couple exceptions involving Jesse alone onstage, minus the extra drumkit and instrumentation involved in the rest of the show. The new songs were accompanied by background video clips and flashing images projected on the wall behind the band, which seemed to mollify an audience with little knowledge of the new material. Unlike other bands of similar age, Brand New hasn't lost a thing.
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