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| Titus Andronicus at Asbury Park Brewery |
Asbury Park Brewery & Monty Hall
Last November, Titus Andronicus played Asbury Park's House of Independents. I, of course, made it out to that one. They also played Monty Hall in Jersey City the very next night. I had a ticket to that, too. The Asbury show was great. I was going through a real tough time then; and when Patrick Stickles got the whole room to chant "COOL-DAD! COOL-DAD!" it felt pretty nice, I gotta say.
The next night, I got in the car and headed out to make the drive up to Jersey City. I think, maybe, CoolMom had just gotten back from a business trip. My dad was in the hospital. I got to the corner of Hance Avenue and Newman Springs Road, where I'd normally make a left to head to the Garden State Parkway. I just kinda mindlessly turned right and headed back home to spend the evening with the family.
It's been a year, and I still have my ups and downs. After 38 days on the road, though, Titus Andronicus made their way back to New Jersey for two shows this weekend; and I wasn't missing either of them.
On Friday, the band played Asbury Park Brewery. Once again, CoolMom arrived home from a business trip that afternoon. We said hello to each other, enjoyed some pizza; and I headed out.
I love that the brewery has become a spot for bands who would probably otherwise skip Asbury Park on tour. It's not really my favorite place to take pictures, though. I just don't feel like I've figured it out. Something about the darkness, the blue lighting, the view into the storage / green room behind the performance area. I'm just rarely satisfied with the shots I take there.
On Friday, my thought process progressed from "I'm not bothering with a camera" to "I'll just bring the point and shoot" to "Well, maybe the crop sensor and one lens" to "I'm bringing the full frame and two lenses." I'm happy I finally settled on that.
Philadelphia's Control Top opened the show. Their debut LP Covert Contracts is one of my favorites this year, and I couldn't believe I hadn't seen them yet. They didn't disappoint. I'd put their sound somewhere between hardcore and post-punk. Lead singer / bassist Ali Carter is ferocious on the mic and delivers on the post-punk basslines. Al Creedon coaxes some wild sounds and noise from his guitar. Alex Lichtenauer is not only Control Top's virtuoso drummer, but they also run Get Better Records which features Control Top along with bands like Potty Mouth, Worriers, The HIRS Collective, Bacchae, and more.
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| Control Top at Asbury Park Brewery |
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| Control Top |
Carter put down the bass and made her way through the crowd during "Covert Contracts," climbing up on barstools and pallets, getting in audience members' faces to scream the song's chorus. Creedon's guitar on "Straight Jackets" sounded just as urgent as intense as it does on the record.
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| Super blurry and dark shot of Ali Carter in the crowd. |
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| Control Top |
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| Control Top |
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| Control Top |
Patrick Stickles came out a little after 9:30 and made his usual request that the crowd remain respectful and non-violent for the show -- "No macho bullshit." Just to set the tone, he started the evening with a solo rendition of "To Old Friends and New" from The Monitor. The rest of the band -- Liam Betson (guitar), Chris Wilson (drums), RJ Gordon (bass) -- joined him and launched into "Just Like Ringing a Bell," the opening track to this year's An Obelisk. Like most of that record, the song is a fast-paced rocker. The crowd got into it and went pretty hard. Everyone respected Stickles's wishes to keep things fun.
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| Titus Andronicus at Asbury Park Brewery |
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| Titus Andronicus |
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| Titus Andronicus |
That remained true for the whole night. I remember, back at the old Lanes five years ago, bracing myself against the stage in anticipation of the onslaught that would follow "FUCK YOU!!!" during "Fear and Loathing in Mahwah, NJ" and still going home with a huge bump on my head from smashing it into my camera. I remember my whole ribcage being covered in bruises after an evening of being crushed against the stage at Warsaw. I even remember being picked up off the floor after ending up at the bottom of a scrum at Monty Hall a few years back. Titus Andronicus crowds have certainly grown up, at least around here.
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| Titus Andronicus |
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| Titus Andronicus |
Stickles introduced a pair of Local Business tracks -- "Ecce Homo" and "Still Life with Hot Deuce on Silver Platter" -- by pointing out that they hadn't been played in NJ in about five years. He called it a risky move, but the crowd rewarded the band with some real enthusiasm.
We were up against an 11pm curfew at the brewery, but Titus Andronicus managed to squeeze "The Battle of Hampton Roads," "A More Perfect Union," and "Titus Andronicus Forever" in just under the wire. The crowd danced and smiled all night. I got a few more shouts out from Patrick. It all got me pretty fired up for Night 2 in Jersey City.
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| Titus Andronicus |
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| Titus Andronicus |
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| Titus Andronicus |
On Saturday, I got into Monty Hall at Around 8. Control Top took the stage at around 8:30 and absolutely brought it again. Carter made her way into the crowd again, kicked and screamed on the floor, got interactive with the crowd, tore off the flowy gown she was wearing over her dress and threw it into the audience. I dig this band.
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| Control Top |
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| Control Top |
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| Control Top |
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| Control Top |
Lighting was meh again, so the pics are a little dark and noisy. What can ya do?
Titus Andronicus played a set that stuck pretty closely to the one they played at the brewery. That was fine by me. Once again, the crowd was raucous but respectful. It got pretty hot inside the venue, and Stickles eventually ended up shirtless. The band left the stage following "Titus Andronicus Forever;" but, this time, the crowd managed to get them back out for an encore of "Titus Andronicus."
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| Titus Andronicus at Monty Hall |
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| Titus Andronicus |
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| Titus Andronicus |
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| Titus Andronicus |
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| Titus Andronicus |
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| Titus Andronicus |
I drove home listening to sports talk radio recap the Yankees' win over the Astros in Game 1 of the ALCS. As I listened and drove, I thought about the hundreds and hundreds of bands I've covered here over the last seven years. I thought about becoming jaded and wanting maybe to pack it all in. And I thought about how, after all of that, things always come back around to where they started for me. How, after years of trying to keep this site "relevant" (whatever that means), after years of ups and downs, this whole thing is all just really about me fan-boying out to my favorite bands.
Too many pictures from both nights are up in the Flickr galleries.
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