Tonight promises to be a full on sonic assault on the senses and so it turns out. Titus Andronicus hail from Nu Joisey led by the irrepressible Patrick Stickles on lead vocals and guitar.
After 2010’s superb The Monitor, a wholly consistent album, they are back with their latest, The Most Lamentable Tragedy which in between the doodling, adlibs and sound effects is an impressive canon of songs.
After opening the set solo Stickles is joined by the rest of the band who are all rocking the bushy hair and beard ensemble looking like extras from a Game of Thrones episode set in downtown Seattle.
What follows is a lesson on how to perform punk rock at its best. The songs have the raw energy of punk but are lyrically intelligent, well-structured and above all played well. Stickles is an impressive but not showy guitarist and he is ably supported by the rest of the band.
The crowd are enthusiastic throughout with much dancing, jumping, pogoing and singing, all of which our motley crowd of middle aged rockers participated in to varying degrees.
Highlights too many to mention although props to ‘Dimed Out’ and ‘Fatal Flaw’ from the new album although set closers ‘A More Perfect Union’ and ‘The Battle of Hampton Roads’ notch the energy and noise up a level or three. Time for a quick encore of Blitzkrieg Bop and it’s all over in a breathless flash.
The eleven hour flight from Brazil the night before is a distant memory and these guys certainly blew any jet lag away, the perfect antidote.
Keep on mutha f*ckin punk rockin baby