Jesse Lacey at Maxwell's
Jesse Lacey and Kevin Devine playing at Maxwell's, Hoboken:
So as you may or may not know, Jesse Lacey is the lead singer of Brand New. However, he's on a mini-tour with Kevin Devine, a solo artist. Both play rock (I dunno how to describe it, neither really have a sub-genre). How I managed to see them is a funny story, so here's that:
Thomas (a fellow Brand New obsessor) and I were just gonna sit in Maxwell's to see if we could see Jesse milling about before the show, but then my mom let it slip we were hoping for tickets to one of the workers there, which we hadn't mentioned but it was sure true. So this bald guy is like "Alright, it's 24 bucks for the both of them." [This show had been sold out for four months or so] I must have melted in a puddle of teen sweat right there, but my mom went and got the money and we got in.
It's a really small venue, about 75 feet long and 15 feet wide. It's attatched to a restaurant of the same name, which also has good food. So really, it's the best place ever to see someone you like, because no matter where you stand, you're really close. Unfortunately the stage isn't set much higher than the standing area, so if you're short, you're gonna have trouble seeing. I'm slightly above average for an 18-year-old American female, and much taller than the average for my age, so it wasn't all that hard, but I still had to shift about a bit to see.
Kevin Divine played a couple of songs and he was really good. He smiles into the microphone, and his lyrics were great and his guitaring wasn't the most complicated stuff ever, but it went with the songs well. He has a good voice for the music he's playing, too. None of that rough-sounding crap that's going around these days that doesn't match the music at all.
Then Jesse joined him. They played a couple Brand New songs:
Play Crack the Sky
Deguasser
Soco Amaretto Lime
Jesus
The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot
Luca
He sounds exactly as he does in studio, which is pretty incredible. He really sung and talked to the crowd, too, which was great. He asked if anyone wanted to ask any questions and a couple people did, and he really answered them. Not like "Oh, well, we're working on it" or "Gee, it just comes with practice" like a lot of musicians do.
Anyway, he talked for ages about how he regrets signing to a major record label, about how he does what he wants, et cetera. He also told us to steal everything we could, including Brand New albums, because it just goes to people who don't need more money anyway.
They were both incredibly funny and slightly high, too. Jesse kept forgetting which guitaring he wanted to do for the song they were gonna play, but he got it in the end. Kevin told his story about how one time he was high and thought his wooden door was Woody Allen. He was saying before that how you shouldn't do drugs, so Jesse says "That was the wrong story to tell if you don't want them to do drugs. Who doesn't want to think their door is Woody Allen?... No, really, they do far worse things than that."
When he walked off at the end I had a fangirl moment and I had to reach out my hand, and I touched him with three of my fingers :] God, he must hate kids like me but I swear I couldn't help myself.
All in all, it was a stellar performance and a great experience for me, so I give it a 9.5/10. I just wished they had played a couple more Brand New songs, but it was already a decent length concert, so not much he could do about that.
So as you may or may not know, Jesse Lacey is the lead singer of Brand New. However, he's on a mini-tour with Kevin Devine, a solo artist. Both play rock (I dunno how to describe it, neither really have a sub-genre). How I managed to see them is a funny story, so here's that:
Thomas (a fellow Brand New obsessor) and I were just gonna sit in Maxwell's to see if we could see Jesse milling about before the show, but then my mom let it slip we were hoping for tickets to one of the workers there, which we hadn't mentioned but it was sure true. So this bald guy is like "Alright, it's 24 bucks for the both of them." [This show had been sold out for four months or so] I must have melted in a puddle of teen sweat right there, but my mom went and got the money and we got in.
It's a really small venue, about 75 feet long and 15 feet wide. It's attatched to a restaurant of the same name, which also has good food. So really, it's the best place ever to see someone you like, because no matter where you stand, you're really close. Unfortunately the stage isn't set much higher than the standing area, so if you're short, you're gonna have trouble seeing. I'm slightly above average for an 18-year-old American female, and much taller than the average for my age, so it wasn't all that hard, but I still had to shift about a bit to see.
Kevin Divine played a couple of songs and he was really good. He smiles into the microphone, and his lyrics were great and his guitaring wasn't the most complicated stuff ever, but it went with the songs well. He has a good voice for the music he's playing, too. None of that rough-sounding crap that's going around these days that doesn't match the music at all.
Then Jesse joined him. They played a couple Brand New songs:
Play Crack the Sky
Deguasser
Soco Amaretto Lime
Jesus
The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot
Luca
He sounds exactly as he does in studio, which is pretty incredible. He really sung and talked to the crowd, too, which was great. He asked if anyone wanted to ask any questions and a couple people did, and he really answered them. Not like "Oh, well, we're working on it" or "Gee, it just comes with practice" like a lot of musicians do.
Anyway, he talked for ages about how he regrets signing to a major record label, about how he does what he wants, et cetera. He also told us to steal everything we could, including Brand New albums, because it just goes to people who don't need more money anyway.
They were both incredibly funny and slightly high, too. Jesse kept forgetting which guitaring he wanted to do for the song they were gonna play, but he got it in the end. Kevin told his story about how one time he was high and thought his wooden door was Woody Allen. He was saying before that how you shouldn't do drugs, so Jesse says "That was the wrong story to tell if you don't want them to do drugs. Who doesn't want to think their door is Woody Allen?... No, really, they do far worse things than that."
When he walked off at the end I had a fangirl moment and I had to reach out my hand, and I touched him with three of my fingers :] God, he must hate kids like me but I swear I couldn't help myself.
All in all, it was a stellar performance and a great experience for me, so I give it a 9.5/10. I just wished they had played a couple more Brand New songs, but it was already a decent length concert, so not much he could do about that.
