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Dan Andriano In The Emergency Room Concert Review

Dan Andriano In The Emergency Room
August 6th, 2015
recordBar - Kansas City, MO

Dan Andriano In The Emergency

This tour package is pretty damn solid, with at least one band for almost anyone who's been interested in punk or emo in the last twenty years. The first band to take the stage was High Dive, which features a member of popular folk punk band Defiance, Ohio. High Dive play a fun, upbeat style of pop-punk, that while being overly-cheesy at times, can grab almost any fan of the genre and have them tapping their foot pretty quickly. It was the band's last day on the tour and made their appreciation of their tourmates very clear. The band also dedicated a song to any queer folks in the audience, a nice gesture in a scene that often forgets some of its political roots.

Pet Symmetry
Second to play was Pet Symmetry, a band fronted by much-revered "emo revivalist" Evan Weiss, who in the past has released many solo projects as Into It. Over It. as well as one with Mike Kinsella (of American Football fame). The band is touring as a trio, leaving a few songs that featured a lead guitar and various horns feeling a little empty, but that was made up for by the band's mature and professional style of playing. Their songs are reminiscent of a lot of late '90's and early 2000's emo bands. I'm not sure how the band would feel about it, but some moments are comparable to a few of Jimmy Eat World's more upbeat cuts. The band's offering of pop-savvy songwriting and attention to detail instrumentally are make a tasteful   backdrop for Weiss's storytelling-style of lyrics. A few songs of the set ended in a controlled, swirling feedback followed by the band reconvening to end the song together. Excellent showmanship without going over the top. The group also earned bonus points with the crowd for their personalized band t-shirts with their names on the front and their anecdote about all being mistaken as the same 6' 1" white guy with glasses and a guitar in Chicago.

Jeff Rosenstock
Speaking of excellent showmanship (minus the "not over the top" part), next up was Jeff Rosenstock. Rosenstock was the primary songwriter for the now-defunct ska punk band Bomb The Music Industry!. After the group called it a day a couple years ago, Rosenstock almost immediately began recording and releasing his music again under his own name. Earlier this year he released his debut on SideOneDummy Records titled "We Cool?" Jeff's rabid fans descended upon the front of the stage and began excitedly push-moshing almost as soon as the music began. Rosenstock's sing-along-ready choruses and crazy instrumentation brought on the biggest crowd responses of the night. A couple dudes stage-dived and a few definitely knocked some beer over onto a guitarist's pedalboard. Yeah, I saw you! When the band jumped into lead single "Nausea" shit just kind of hit the fan. Think Weezer if Weezer got drunk more and used synths and horns. It was at least entertaining to watch if you didn't like all the noise! Another high point was a wild, warp-speed rendition of "Hey Allison." Also notable was the talent of the multi-instrumentalist that Rosenstock enlisted for the tour. The man was playing two different keyboards, a slide guitar, a regular guitar, and frantically grabbing for his saxophone on various songs throughout the set.

After Jeff and friends signed out, leaving the room smelling of dude sweat, Dan Andriano began setting up. Andriano, who was being backed by Rosenstock and members of his band, is the guitarist for '90's punk stalwarts Alkaline Trio. He began his performance without much warning. The crowd, while maybe interested, definitely had thinned out after Rosenstock. Many people who were there just for Andriano wandered up to the front and had quite a bit of personal space. I'm not going to call his set completely boring, it definitely had its highlights, but by midnight on a Thursday, I think a lot of people were just tired and not too willing to rock out to Andriano's solo songs. Most of them are just straightforward, mid-paced punk songs written more from experience and dejection than anger. If you like The Gaslight Anthem or Against Me! you'd probably be into it I guess. Most youngsters just weren't though. This set was mostly for the old balding dudes, holding up beers and shouting in-between songs though. And they got what they wanted. Plenty of acoustic guitar and crooning. Definitely no disrespect to Andriano, it was nice to hear his stories and see him in such a small setting, but it's hard to get people excited again after three such young, energetic bands.

Despite an almost lackluster finish, this show was very under-attended compared to the rest of the tour, so Kansas City, you fucked up again. Jeff Rosenstock and Pet Symmetry played great sets and you should get out and see them next time.

Here are all my photos from the show: https://www.flickr.com/photos/118613296@N06/sets/72157656489116940

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