In the midst of their trek supporting The Gaslight Anthem Against Me was able fit in a headlining show of their own on an off day from the tour. The band announced they would be playing The Constellation Room in Santa Ana a little less than 24 hours before the show was set to take place and within hours the show sold out. Of course when a band as big as they are announces they’re going to play a venue with a capacity of approximately 300 people no one is really surprised about the show selling out quickly. Something of interest was how the band acquired openers for the event.
Laura Jane Grace simply took to twitter and simply asked who wanted to open up for the band. As expected she received a flurry of replies from hopeful talent across the Southern California area. Of all those who inquired a comedian and a ska band were the lucky two to be selected to join the bill. It was at the moment that I realized Laura had crafted one of the best bills to date as I love to laugh and I especially love ska music. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I am a horrible person.
The comedian in question goes by the name of Brandie Posey and was actually a nice way to start the evening. She came out and went straight into her set that covered a plethora of topics; from the wholes in her jeans to the horrible letter she once received from a Bally’s Gym. The latter of which might have been the highlight of her set as she even brought the letter in question and went into great about the bullshit it contained. Her set had some ups and downs but overall I thought she was rad and would definitely like to check her out again in the future. Also, apologies for the lack of pictures of Brandie. The one I have is much to blurry even for my own standards which are low as it is.
As Brandie wrapped up The Interrupters quickly jumped onto the stage to kick off their high energy set. At no point did any member of the band ever stand still. They were like kids hopped up on a sugar high as they delivered song after song of their infectious brand of ska punk. This was my first time seeing a full set by The Interrupters but not my first time seeing the band. I was lucky enough to see them perform the song “family” at Tim Armstrong’s art show in LA earlier this year. My lack of seeing them was not due to any part of theirs as they’re a extremely active band. Things just never panned out until now.
With their performance done the entire room got entirely too antsy waiting for Against me as the band started a good 20 minutes after the scheduled set time. Then just when it seem the crowd could wait no longer Against Me took to the stage and started things of with “Pints of Guinness Make You Strong.” At that point they commanded the crowd with ease as everyone sang along every word. The crowd also grew rather chaotic with plenty of crowd surfing and stage diving. Being in the front for the night led to me getting bumped in the noggin more times than I would like but it happens.
Perhaps the biggest highlight of the night, besides the amazing encore that included “We Laugh at Danger and Break All the Rules”, was perhaps seeing Laura smile so much that night. I’m not sure if I have ever seen her smile as much as I did that night but it was beautiful. Of course everyone in the band was having an awesome time and at times it was hard to tell who was having more fun, them or the audience. The entire show was one of those experiences where the band gives to the audience and the audience gives right back. A mutual bonding that you can’t always find at a bigger show. I understand that as a band grows so must their shows but to know that Against Me will still go out of their way to sneak in shows like these from time to time is awesome. If you missed out, sucks to be you but there’s always next time.
All band photos used are property of Brittany Woolsey and used with her permission.