Rise Against, Alkaline Trio, Thrice and The Gaslight Anthem Entertainment Art Congress Theater Chicago, IL November 20-21, 2008

Rise Against is one of those bands whether they are playing at a church rec room or the Metro, they are awesome every time regardless of the surroundings. Even though they've rotated guitar players like Spinal Tap drummers, they' always have been a very tight sound live. It’s what they do. Both nights they hit on almost everything one would want from their sophomore release. Although it was slightly disappointing that they pulled "Everchanging" out of Friday's set, instead choosing to drop down the intensity for the acoustic "Hero of War" (from the new album Appeal to Reason). "Swing Life Away" the song that Q101 picked up and began their love affair with the band was also added. This may have pissed off some, given a washroom break for others, but in the end totally understandable. Honestly, 75-plus percent of the crowd wasn't even old enough to purchase beer and the place reeked of radio-influenced-teens. But you know what? They deserve it. They've been playing to crowds too small forever- so whatever success they get, good for them. Tonight they played a hefty 22 song set while the openers played only 8 to 10. Although it would have been nice to see them drop about 6 songs, giving each band two more, it was their show. Rise Against sure as hell didn't fill the seats with fluff- they pounded out sing along anthems and thrashers alike and giving everyone more than their penny's worth.

Earlier in the evening the night started with a relatively new band out of New Jersey. I fell in love with The Gaslight Anthem last spring just before they opened for The Loved Ones and again later with the Bouncing Souls. They said on Friday that they'd be back in March or April at probably Reggie's- which is a really cool place to see a show (and drink really expensive cans of really crappy beer) but I have a sneaking suspicion that they might not fit there by then, we'll see. Tonight they knocked out a bunch of songs from their new album, The '59 Sound, and others from their debut Sink or Swim and the EP Senior and the Queen. The sound was better on Friday night and was solid from the first song (perhaps it was just the spot I was in). The highlight of their set was pulling Dustin Kensrue and Teppei Teranishi of Thrice out to play a cover of The Band's "The Weight." Lead singer Brian Fallon swapped verses with each of Thrice's guitarists. It blew everyone away on Friday that a man in his 40’s, who was chaperoning a group of teenage boys, could be seen welled up in emotions.

Speaking of Thrice, they played a pretty heavy set of songs from their their latest release The Alchemy Index (a four-part album derived from earth, air, fire and water) and its predecessor, Vheissu. The Orange County band has gone through quite a metamorphosis since I was first introduced to them about 7-8 years ago. They've gone from kids seemingly heavily influenced by the metal riffage of Metallica and Pantera, to married guys that are about as experimental as anyone that still fits under the "punk" label. Thursday night they reached back a little bit and rocked through a killer version of "The Artist in the Ambulance." Friday they replaced it with "Music Box," which was cool to hear but lacked the energy of the song they replaced from the previous night. "The Earth Will Shake" was awesome each night and the blistering cover of the Beatles' "Helter Skelter" stole their set both nights.

The Alkaline Trio has long been one of Chicago's musical gems and the Congress shows could have been considered a co-headliner, if it wasn’t for such a short set. Something of an underground cult hit, they blend melodic pop-punk sensibilities with biting sarcasm like no one else on the scene. Being one of the bigger punk acts out today, it's surprising they haven't garnered a little more mainstream attention by now. Thursday night’s set was pretty solid and perfect when they pulled The Gaslight Anthem’s Fallon out on stage, as lead singer and guitarist of Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba went sans guitar, to go Danzig-style on a cover of The Misfits’ "Astro Zombies." It was the single best part of that night's show. Each night they opened with the classic "Private Eye" and "Calling All Skeletons" from the new album, Agony and Irony. As they broke into the third song on Friday, a young lady behind me started screaming, "Fuck you! This is the same set as last night." Well, not only was her rage incorrect, as the song they were 10 seconds into playing was different than anything they played the night previously, but she was also pre-mature as they would only repeat "In Vein," another track from the new disc. Beyond that, Friday saw such hits as "Snake Oil Tanker", "This Could Be Love", "Maybe I'll Catch Fire", "Warbrain", "Clavicle" and everyone's favorite "Radio". Such hits made Friday night’s offering roughly five times better than the night before, even without the wicked Misfits cover. Of the eight sets I saw these two days, this was easily the most impressive.

* Thrice photos by Tim HIATT

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