I've been fascinated with bands aging in the emo scene for quite some time now. Whether its bands like Fall Out Boy or Paramore, who haven't stopped once to acknowledge their respective legacies, or other bands who seems to have an "Anniversary Tour" every other year now, there seem to be two camps forming: those flat-out refusing to look into the past, and those who are using it as a crutch. I'm not sure which side is correct, either; sure, it'd be nice to see a tour where Panic! At the Disco plays through all of A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, but I'm not necessarily sure Motion City Soundtrack going on (at least) their third different tour where they play Commit This To Memory front-to-back is intriguing, either. There's a lot of grey area, and it ultimately comes down to the bands' relationships with their fans, and what each individual band determines to be their best path forward.
For a long time, Alexisonfire's fans just wanted to see "The Only Band Ever" back on stage again. After releasing Old Crows/Young Cardinals in 2009, followed by the Dog's Blood EP and an indefinite hiatus in the early 2010s, there was little news on the AOF front for some time. Then, finally, something brought down the levees: the band reunited for a sprinkling of festival appearances (all outside the US), which turned into a few traditional tours, which turned into three singles ("Familiar Drugs," "Complicit," and "Season of the Flood"), which has now turned into Otherness, the band's first full-length album in a staggering 13 years. The album is another assertion of the band's commitment to challenging themselves. It's a passionate, energetic set of tracks that have reignited the band's career and placed them back in the pantheon of post-hardcore. Touring behind Otherness was an inevitability, but that didn't make the band's show at the Rooftop on Pier 17 in New York City any less jaw-dropping.
I don’t often feel compelled to talk about venue specifics, but given that this was the first time I’ve been to Pier 17, I do feel like it’s worth discussing. In short, the venue is in the same tier as Asbury Park’s Stone Pony Summer Stage in terms of being a perfect outdoor concert venue. As its description earlier mentions, the performance area is on the rooftop of the building, and it’s location near the water allows for a great breeze to flow throughout the space. With the New York/New Jersey area in the middle of a heat wave, the rooftop provided a great sanctuary from the scorch. The stage is elevated perfectly, and the sound travels well enough that there’s no bad spot to stand (unless you’re behind someone taller than you). The multi-level building also featured a third floor that was used for the merch area, and kept things moving at the end of the show so that no one had to wait for the line to die down to leave the venue. It’s a small detail, sure, but any logistical decision that gets made helps the overall experience. If you haven’t made it out to a show at Pier 17 yet, consider this your sign to get out to one.
For the east coast’s portion of Alexisonfire’s summer run, fans were treated to The Fall of Troy to open the show. The Seattle prog/post-hardcore band were stars of the Warped scene before breaking up in the early 2010s (sound familiar?), but have been quietly releasing new music and touring since 2015. While drummer Andrew Forsman provided a great performance, and the band’s touring bassist kept pace and added great unclean vocals, The Fall of Troy is, was, and always will be Thomas Erak’s show. The scene’s most prominent guitar virtuoso put his talents on full display throughout the band’s set, and Erak whipped around the stage with the bravado that once made him a perfect fit alongside Craig Owens in the brief Chiodos reunion. The band’s legend was forged thanks to their song “FCPREMIX” being included on Guitar Hero 3, and when the band pulled out their most famous track early in the set, the crowd was officially awake. As fellow Doppelganger track “Whacko Jacko Steals the Elephant Man’s Bones” rounded out The Fall of Troy’s set, fans were enthusiastically cheering on one of the scene’s singular talents, and showing their appreciation for a fantastic start to the show.
Taking the stage moments before the sunset, Alexisonfire established early and often that there would be no way to expect what was coming. The greatest case of this was their setlist creation. In the world of Setlist.fm, where anyone can look at what a band's setlist for a tour is before they go, there are few surprises when that band takes the stage. For the sake of full transparency, I do it too when I'm shooting shows; it helps me know what to expect when I'm shooting, and eases the nerves a little. I saw the setlists for the two dates Alexisonfire played prior to their New York tour stop, and felt pretty confident about what I wanted to do. And then the band took the stage and threw all my plans out the window. George Pettit, donning his now-signature overalls look, grabbed the mic and uttered "We're Alexisonfire from Canada. This song's called 'Young Cardinals.'" Now, you may read that and think "Well, of course they'd play that song, it's one of their best." Of course it is! But the thing is, that had been the track AOF was closing their set with previously, and now here they were, blasting out of the starting gate with their biggest chorus. It was a perfect tone-setter for the night, and the crowd was instantly drawn in and loud, as they'd remain for the rest of the night. The band continued to switch things up from what they'd been playing the previous two nights, adding Otherness opener "Committed to the Con" after Pettit gave an impassioned speech condemning the Supreme Court's atrocious decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Sonically, the band's sound was nearly a carbon copy of their studio recordings, and at times they even surpassed those standards. Dallas Green's vocals, long regarded among the very best in the scene, were sterling yet again, while Wade MacNeil and Pettit's harsher deliveries held up perfectly all night. The three vocalists ended up harmonizing perfectly on their most recent single "Sans Soleil," a haunting track that somehow makes an even bigger impact in a live setting. When the vocalists weren't hogging the spotlight, it was being shared with the band's chaotic bassist Chris Steele, who was relentlessly bounding across the stage, his energy not even dipping once. Whether he was sharing a moment with his bandmates or members of the crowd, Steele's passion was contagious, and unmatched across any band in any genre. MacNeil and Green have also done a great job divvying up the guitar leads equally, as each got the chance to show their considerable skill. Pettit ended up taking the MVP of the band's set, however, after it was revealed that he was performing with stiches in his head from an injury sustained the night before in Silver Spring, MD.
George Pettit's commitment to putting on the best show possible and keeping things fresh for fans was mirrored by the rest of his bandmates, and I think that's what made this set from Alexisonfire so memorable: whether it was the constant run-ins the band would have with one another, or how members would introduce one another to the crowd during pivotal moments throughout the set, or just how damn good they all sounded together, it's clear that Alexisonfire is a tight-knit group whose chemistry and cohesion has taken years to build, and is now hitting its peak. The Otherness era of the band's career feels like much less of a continuation from where they left off, but more like a new phase of their career, one that's going to take them to even greater heights. And the best part: it's only just beginning.
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