Glassjaw
Opening for Coheed and Cambria – 2/26/16
The Aragon Ballroom – Chicago, IL
Recently, a group of us headed up to Chicago to catch out Coheed and Cambria and Glassjaw at The Aragon Ballroom. A previous post covered the fantastic Coheed and Cambria show, as well as detailed what makes The Aragon Ballroom such a cool venue. (Check out that post here). Typically, we would have included some notes on the opener in that post, however, Glassjaw was really interesting, and so we felt it merited it’s own post. Here’s some notes!
The Show
As the resident post-hardcore fan of The Music Pill, Glassjaw is a long time favorite of mine. Over the years they’ve been through a variety of line up changes, but have always remained pretty true to their original sound. The latest incarnation includes bassist Travis Sykes and drummer Chad Hasty, both previously from Glass Cloud. It has been many years since I’ve seen Glassjaw, and this show was the first time for the current lineup, so I was cautiously optimistic. Glassjaw started their show with a medley of the first two songs off their album Worship and Tribute (Their best overall album in my opinion), “Tip your Bartender,” and “Mu Empire.” These two were a great combination of songs that feature lots of energy as well as catchy choruses. Guitarist Justin Beck has always had a very cool guitar tone, and it really cut through at the Aragon. Surprisingly, Daryl’s vocals were a bit more tame then usual, but sounded really good in the mix. As usual, his unique blend of scream/growls/clean singing was on point. New comers Travis and Chad, really seemed to fit the band’s latest sound and image, and I was impressed how tight they all sounded.
They then went into the song “Pink Roses,” which has a heavy palm muted guitar verse and a big open chorus, a combination that Glassjaw is notorious for. They followed up with a few other tunes off Worship and Tribute; “Ape Dos Mil,” and “Gillette Cavalcade of Sports.” Both great tunes, with Gillette being one of my favorites off the album. Following that, they played “Jesus Glue” off the EP, Our Colour Green, a unique song for them that kind of has a Spanish/Latin feel to it. Another pinnacle for the show was the new lineup’s new tune “New White Extremity,” which hit pretty hard live, and I think it’s a good direction for their newer material. It’s a more uptempo tune, with a thick and heavy bass backend, and yet another catchy vocal chorus from Daryl. It was great for a live setting, and got the crowd moving around. The follow up new tune, “Shira”, was a little bit of a miss for me live. I’m not as familiar with the tune, and it just seemed to be a little too dull for their set list. The set list ended with “Two Tabs of Mescaline”, which always sounds good live. That heavy bass riff just cuts through during the verse and bridge.
It’s always hard for a band to play enough good tunes with a limited set time, especially when you’re not the headliner. It would have been nice for them to have had time for 1 or 2 other songs, maybe something off Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Silence for us old school fans. Crowd participation was a bit lacking at this show – I wonder if the Coheed fans aren’t as familiar with Glassjaw, and I also wonder if that’s why Glassjaw’s set list was focused more on their softer side. Regardless, a good overall show, and looking forward to seeing where this new lineup takes the band.