Shows. Shows. and More Shows! (including At the Drive-In AND Thursday reunions!!!)

I spent last weekend in Boston for a couple of great shows. After waiting 17 years, 2 canceled shows, I was able to finally see one of my favorite bands from 2000, At the Drive-In, who broke up years ago, only to reunite a couple of times, including last year, but ended up canceling some of their tour due to illness. They promised to come back around and finally did, with opening act, Le Butcherettes (who were awesome, too), and ATDI were just as awesome as I'd imagined, full of energy, played like it was still 2000-01. 

The following night, I went back into Boston to see Minus the Bear (and Beach Slang). MTB is touring to support their new album, "VOIDS," which is really great. Their set was fantastic. They played quite a good mix of songs from their catalog. 


Beach Slang was one of the openers, whom I was very interested in seeing because they are slated to open for Jimmy Eat World in May (which is another show I'll be going to). They were pretty awesome, full of energy, booze, and great punk-flavored songs that sort of also reminded me of The Afghan Whigs, but slightly faster, and The Replacements with some Pixies mixed into their sound. Having not really listened to them before, I was impressed with their live show. 


......................................................................
This past week, I saw another reunion of one of my all-time favorite bands- Thursday, after seeing one of their final shows before going om an indefinite hiatus, about 6 years ago nearly to the date of this show within a couple of months. This was one of the shows I had been looking forward to and hoping for since their last show. It's hard when a band goes out when they seem like they're hitting a great stride, and they were a strong band for so many years. They were always a band I loved for sticking to their guns about what music they would make together, uncompromising, but because of this suffered defeat at the hands of a major label which affected their ability to be something bigger than they were. They should've exploded, instead they were somewhat exploited. Regardless, they were able to come back 6 years later and put on an incredible show. 


 And the opening bands were equally amazing. First up was the Boston band, Animal Flag, whom I've seen a couple of times now and have always impressed me. I even chatted with them after the last show and asked them about opening for Thursday, which they considered quite an honor. They started the night off with a great 25 minute set of their music. 


And then, Touche Amore, followed them and put on one of the best sets I've seen. They packed their setlist with tons of songs, which is easy since the majority of the songs are 2-3 minutes long. If you have not listened to them, you must. And you must listen to their latest album "Stage Four" which I couldn't possibly sing praises for enough. It's one of the best records of the past decade. 


And the last opener was Basement, an English punk/emo import band. I had not really listened to much of their stuff, but the rest of the crowd seemed into them and they definitely put on a great show. 



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