Against Me played a secret surprise show at NYC's Mercury Lounge on Saturday and I was lucky enough to be there. I haven't seen Against Me since their Searching For A Former Clarity tour, so I was looking forward to seeing how their show has progressed since those days. There are enough people debating over what Against Me was or has become since Reinventing Axl Rose. I'd rather focus on what Against Me is, an amazing live band that day in and day out turns in performances that leave even the naysayers in awe.
Saturday's show was a perfectly balanced set of favorites from the bands early full lengths like "Pints of Guinness..." "Walking Is Still Honest" and "Cliche Guevara" along with the more recent standouts "Thrash Unreal," "I Was A Teenage Anarchist," and "High Pressure Low." I was holding out for anything from Tom Gabel's highly underrated and in my opinion fucking awesome solo album Heart Burns, but alas no dice.
A decidedly older crowd, there was however no shortage of energy and that may be in large part be due to new drummer Jay Weinberg. Regardless of who his father is, Weinberg is a uniquely powerful and exciting drummer that is breath of fresh air for the band. Bassist Andrew Seward works the crowd like the band's personal cheerleader and guitarist James Bowman throws out blistering off the cuff fills like dinner mints.
On tour with the band was photographer Ryan Russell. If you haven't seen Russell's work check it out now. From what I've read Russel only shoots on film and that alone would make me a fan but Russell has a great eye and is pumping out beautiful images on a consistent basis. I'm looking forward to seeing what he captured of the performance.
All in all, it was a fucking amazing show and it definitely won't be such a long gap between the next time I catch an Against Me show.
Click any of the pics above to check out a slideshow or head over to the Flickr gallery direct.
1 comment:
Great pictures dude, such an awesome show.
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