This event stood as historical landmark in my concert-going career, as I was on my way to see one of my all-time favorite bands in my all-time favorite venue. I am referring to Thursday, more specifically their “Shirts for a Cure Tour” concert, at Saint Andrews Hall in Detroit (Editor’s note: Rock) City. Arriving a little after the doors opened, I caught the end of We.re All Broken, an utterly typical punk outfit who came up short of impressing anyone present. The pinnacle of their noise/movement production occurred when they asked the audience how excited they were to see Thursday.
Whilst the band played on I went through the merch stands. T-shirts from many of the bands were for sale, all of which had been donated to the tour to raise funds for cancer research (hence the “shirts for a cure” tour). Most notable was the “fuck cancer” t-shirt for which I regrettably did not have the money. I did, however, pick up the new Thursday CD which has been looping on my car’s CD player for the last two weeks.
After We.re All Broken finished their lackluster set, we found seats atop the balcony, which I would not recommend to any non-smoker who may attend Saint Andrews Hall. If the guns in Detroit don’t kill you, the second-hand smoke will. But we braved it out, and alas, the tobacco fumes in the air weren’t anything compared to the torture we were about to endure. The single most dread-inspiring name in all the indie-whatever-rock kingdom, as I’m sure Mr. Bondy would agree, would have to be mewithoutyou. On a website (either myspace or purevolume, I’m sure) I read quotes of the band saying that they like to challenge their audience, and that most of whom they play to just don’t get it. Well, if that’s so, then mewithoutyou is either the biggest inside joke of the music scene, or just a bunch of confused musicians. It’s safe to say nobody ‘got it’. The guy next to me referred to them as ‘a musical abomination’ and later leaned over to tell me that they sounded like an abortion. Having never been present for one myself, I’m not exactly sure what that would sound like, but, being in as much pain as I was while listening to the band, I had to agree with the man. About every other song or so, two or more of the band members took out random percussion instruments to shake and dance around with. The singer looked absolutely lost on stage, and spun around in circles when he wasn’t singing. I vainly tried to convince myself that this mind-crushing experience would be worth its follow-up, but no end seemed in sight.
Fortunately, the next band came to the rescue. The worst (literally, the WORST) was over. Minus the Bear played a stunning set, using unique effects and looping rhythms to get the crowd moving. They reminded me that rock music can make you want to dance just as much it can make you want to mosh. And when I say dance, I don’t mean this Panic! at the Disco bullshit. Fuck! off already with that stuff. Minus the Bear manages to create a beautiful, atmospheric landscape with their sound, which is why I place them on a much higher pedestal than what the radio’s been pumping out lately (aside from them not sounding like an even poppier Fall Out Boy. Arg. Just had to let that out).
My plan had been to stay up on the balcony, from where both stage and the floor were in plain view, but that plan changed when Thursday walked on stage and opened with “Understanding in a Car Crash”. At that point, it was a race to the stage, but I only got as far as the other screaming fans would let me. So I battled it out on the floor for the rest of the night. Next up was “Paris In Flames”, yet another old song. They doled out their first stuff first before delving into their newer material, but Thursday pulled the night off magnificently all the same. However, it was unfortunate that they played nothing from “Waiting”. They never do play that stuff. They did play the best of the other records, though, and also threw in “Jet Black New Year”, which is always a crowd-pleaser. Thursday’s new album, “A City By The Light Divided”, is slower, softer and incorporates a piano into just about every song, steering the band away from the screamo roots of off which they have founded their current success.
If you aren’t a fan of the band or the overall genre, at least applaud Thursday for taking a new direction, and setting themselves apart from the rest of the Jersey emo-scene pack.
-Joseph Scalia
