There are very few bands that have such a stage presence and exude so much energy that even the most light-weight of fans find themselves moving, dancing and having a good time (note: Jason Mraz is not one of them). Against Me!, however, is one of those bands. Friday night at the Creepy Crawl, Against Me! demonstrated to an overflowing house just how rowdy their unique brand of folk-punk can be.
The evening started out with more than a few setbacks. For starters, the doors didn't open until 7 p.m., two hours after the posted starting time of the show. This left hundreds of eager Against Me! fans waiting diligently in line, facing the biting wind. Even when the doors finally did open, many fans were turned away because the show had sold out, or rather over-sold.
Once the show got started, there were five opening bands playing to a brimming, restless crowd. Highlights from the opening acts included, surprisingly, the Revolution Sweethearts from Collinsville, IL, who played a style of pub-folk that was similar to, but not a derivative of Against Me!
The last opening band, Smoke Or Fire, played aggressive punk along the lines of Rise Against. During their set, the lead singer of Smoke Or Fire announced that there had been an "incident" backstage and that the show was "this close" to not happening. This announcement sent a wave of uneasy panic through the crowd. Would their beloved Against Me! even take the stage that night?
Apparently, the "incident" that occurred backstage was a dispute between members of Against Me! and the Creepy Crawl management. Since the Creepy Crawl had over-sold the show (and it was bound to be a rowdy show) Against Me! was concerned that the conditions were ripe for serious injuries among the crowd. Against Me! showed their confidence in the civility of the crowd when they finally took the stage.
The band applauded the crowd for their singing efforts and then ripped into the club-shaking "Cliché Guevara" off of their latest release, "As the Eternal Cowboy."
"Cliché Guevara" is a perfect example of how Against Me! mixes folk, pop and punk with humor and far-left politics, without coming off as preachy, like label mates Anti-Flag.
With a catalogue of D.I.Y. EP's and minor label albums, Against Me! are reviving not only the critical wit of punk heroes Billy Bragg and The Pogues, but also the punk work ethic, which makes their music all the more meaningful.
When other bands perform, they usually play their singles and what other "fan favorites" they have. Well, Against Me! has no singles and, as far as the fans are concerned, every song is a "fan favorite," so their entire set was a blast.
While every song of their set was worth noting, Against Me! shone brightest on a few select songs. "You Look Like I Need Another Drink" and the acoustic shout-along "Sink, Florida, Sink," both off of their latest album, really got the crowd going.
For what would be their last two songs, the band tapped their 2001 release "Reinventing Axl Rose" and played the rousing yet heart-wrenching "Pints of Guinness Make You Strong," about a widow mourning the death of her husband, 37 years prior.
It sounds like a drinking anthem, and it is, but the sad story of a widow drinking both in memory of and in an attempt to forget her dead husband is, in fact, quite sobering.
The stark Johnny Cash-esque rhythm only bolsters the touching lyrics, "And just like James, I'll be drinking Irish tonight and the memory of his last work week will be gone forever."
After that, the band lightened the mood with the riotous "We Laugh at Danger (And Break All the Rules)." This got the crowd whipped up into a jovial frenzy, and forced them, even more so than before, to burst into a glorious cacophony as they spilled onto the tiny Creepy Crawl stage.
The insanely fun chorus of: "Mary, there is no hope for us/ If this GM van don't make it across the state line/ we might as well lay down and die/ Because if Florida takes us, we're taking everyone down with us/ Where we're coming from (yeah) will be the death us" got the packed house to let loose. All the motion in the crowd forced nearly 30 people onto the stage. There was no more room in the crowd and the band had no more room to play, so after 10 songs, they called it a night.
The crowd was disappointed, but at the same time, they were satisfied knowing that they had all just seen one of the greatest live shows that they will ever see.
While the traditional encore songs "This S— Rules" and "Baby, I'm an Anarchist" were skipped, it seems fitting that Against Me! was forced to close with their own personal anthem, "We Laugh at Danger," because the last line sums them up better anyone else ever could: "But this band will play on, because all we can do is what we've always done. And on and on and on…"
