No, this isn’t about the new renovations over at the beloved venue. The band Brand New rocked out Merriweather Post Pavilion last night to a full house, as they stopped by on their co-headlining tour with Modest Mouse. The tour is unique with just the two bands playing (no openers). Which felt very nice, you knew who was going to be on stage and it’s going to be one of the main acts you came to see.
With no opener Brand New jumped right in with “Mene” and the crowd jumped to their feet. With a band like theirs, being as prominent in the indie scene as they are, they needed no introduction. Brand New let the music speak for themselves. There was very little interruption between songs, it almost felt like you were listening to a mixtape performed live.
The performance was full of raw emotion and deep lyrics that you would expect from emo legends such as themselves. They were not hopping across the stage or dancing but that would feel very wrong here. Their music isn’t the type to get you moving on a Friday night, its the kind you drop the needle on at 1am and ponder life to. Brand News performance flowed through some of their heavier tracks to the acoustic slower ones very smoothly.
The setlist comprised of songs across their last three albums. Songs from Your Favorite Weapon were nowhere to be herd during the set. Their latest single “I Am A Nightmare” was there to give the audience a tease of new music to come later this year, on what may be their last album. The band had t-shirts for sale that said “Brand New 2000-2018” which is when they are rumored to call it quits. That would give them enough time to release this last album, do a promotional tour for it, and wrap things up with a farewell tour. But much of that is still speculation.
But with that deadline there is still time to enjoy the band. They still have a bunch of dates left on this tour with Modest Mouse which you can find here. They also have a Canadian tour lined up with mewithoutyou that you can look forward to as well. You can check out and buy their latest single “I Am A Nightmare” here. Be on the lookout for their new album coming out sometime this year. For more picture from the show just keep scrolling. As always for all music coverage in the MD/DC area keep it here at Eye On Annapolis.
All images provided by: Owen Paterline Photography.
