I've seen Titus Andronicus a few times over the last couple of years. I think I saw the band twice at Maxwell's, twice at The Stone Pony, and once at Brooklyn Bowl. Saturday night marked the first time that Titus Andronicus played at Asbury Lanes, and it was almost like I had never experienced them before.
On their most recent trip to Asbury Park, Titus Andronicus opened for The Bouncing Souls during one of the Home for the Holidays shows at The Stone Pony. There was a barricade / photo pit / crowd surfer removal chute at the front of the stage. CoolMom and I got to the venue early and positioned ourselves right up front against the barrier. Titus Andronicus had a cadre of devoted fans at the show, but those fans were vastly outnumbered by people there to see The Bouncing Souls.
Titus Andronicus played a great -- if abbreviated -- set. Their fans, right behind CoolMom and me, tried to get a bit of a pit / BroZone thing going; but not one of them ever managed to make it over the barrier. That was fine by me. I loved the Titus Andronicus set, but it did feel a little odd being situated among people mostly there to stake out their spots for The Bouncing Souls.
When I saw the announcement that Titus Andronicus would be headlining Asbury Lanes, I pounced on tickets immediately. Pretty much my favorite band playing at pretty much my favorite venue was something I wasn't going to miss, and the evening didn't disappoint. CoolMom was with me again; and, almost as if she understood the sea separating The Stone Pony from Asbury Lanes, told me to have fun up front while she sat toward the rear with friends.
Titus Andronicus are currently touring with Brooklyn's Baked. It's an interesting pairing. Baked's psychedelic shoegaze-influenced sound seems like an odd match with the pop-punk / garage rock of Titus Andronicus; but I, personally, really like the sonic area where Baked plays around -- lots of strumming with the trem bar and lots of delay. I recommend picking up their self-titled cassette / digital EP.
Patrick Stickles took the stage alone at around 10:30 and laid some ground rules for how the evening should go. "Don't impose your will on anybody else," he said. The bump on my forehead says that some people didn't take that direction to heart, but it wasn't Stickles's fault. He even stopped the set a few times to tell people to take it easy.
To start things off, Stickles strummed and sang a verse of Bruce Springsteen's "4th of July, Asbury Park" and then moved into the quiet first half of "Four Score and Seven." One by one, the rest of the band joined Stickles on stage as that song neared its more aggressive second half. As that kicked in, so did the pandemonium up front. The needle stayed in the red as the band moved into "A More Perfect Union." At this point, I leveraged my Asbury Lanes connections to move to the side of the stage, outside the action.
I remained there as Titus Andronicus ran through "My Time Outside the Womb" from The Airing of Grievances and Local Business tracks "In a Big City" and "Still Life with Hot Deuce and Silver Platter." The pit roiled. Crowd surfers surfed.
The show's middle third focused on pieces from the promised, upcoming Titus Andronicus rock opera. I know that Titus Andronicus have been playing some of these songs live at a few shows, and I'm pretty sure I saw a few fans singing along in spots. At one point, Stickles stopped to point out the obvious inappropriateness of crowd-surfing barefoot.
I was feeling a little detached from things at my spot to stage left, so I pushed my way back around to the front for the final third of the show. My neighbors at the front of the stage and I braced ourselves for the onslaught to come just as Stickles and the band shouted "Fuck You!" during "Fear and Loathing in Mahwah, NJ." I continued snapping pictures from my spot up front and paid for it when someone nailed me from behind, sending my forehead and my camera on a collision course. The stars disappeared in time for me to sing along, full-throated, with another Springsteen cover, "Dancing in the Dark." The band closed with the epic "The Battle of Hampton Roads," Stickles fiddling with his pedalboard at the end in order to get his guitar to wail like a set of bagpipes.
I'm always torn. I don't go in for the moshing, stage diving, crowd surfing, or other stuff; but I love being right up front. The experience just isn't the same at the back. I'm a big enough guy to take care of myself, and there were a few moments on Saturday when I closed my eyes and just let myself be tossed on the waves. My forehead just above my left eye is still a little tender, but it was worth it. I'll be right back in the same spot the next time Patrick and the band come to Asbury Lanes. I hope it's soon.
Here are some highlights. Full set up in the Flickr galleries.
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