The last concert of my Messiah career was both sold out and substantially harder than any other. Unlike the last time I saw them, Brand New was not touring an album, and was therefore free to fill my night (and everyone else's) with the old songs we fell in love with as teenagers. But before Brubaker Auditorium erupted into a massive sing-along, we were subjected to some rather strange experiences.
True to form, the difficult-to-classify Long Island rockers brought another genre-busting hometown act with them on tour. Robbers are an upbeat bunch with a histrionic frontman whose Afro and mannerisms had the audience incessantly shouting for various Hendrix songs. Unfortunately for any other impressions they may have made, their set was abruptly interrupted by a kid in the front row who was having a seizure. Security inexplicably chose to keep him in the middle of the floor and stop the show until EMS arrived, truncating the performance drastically.
photo courtesy of Amanda Fox
As Brand New took the stage, the crowd erupted with cheers and cameras (despite a regulation attempting to deter the latter). Peppering a set of songs that the college-age and up crowd had grown up to with a few recent roars from Daisy and college radio staples from the critically-acclaimed The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me, Jesse Lacey and company masterfully worked their audience into a frenzy. As Lacey was left alone on stage for a more intimate set, it became clear just how much Brand New means to their fans, and "Soco Amaretto Lime" seemed the perfect sendup of and sendoff to our college days:
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