I arrived at The Ritz Ybor after The Henry Clay People? finished playing. The sold out occupancy of the ballroom consisted primarily of girls in skirts and high-heeled shoes and mainstream radio listeners, who were at the show to see Silversun Pickups. They were not in attendance to see Florida’s Against Me! who was currently taking the stage in support of their new release White Crosses. When headlining, Against Me! draws a large crowd of hardcore fans, but since tickets to Friday’s show were well above the price of a typical Against Me! concert, most of those fans were willing to wait to see the band again.

Against Me! played a 35-minute set featuring songs from their Sire releases with the exceptions of “Pints of Guinness make you Strong” and “Sink.Florida.Sink” from their Fat Wreck Chords days. The band attempted to appease Silversun Pickups fans by playing all their familiar radio singles including “Don’t lose touch”, “Thrash Unreal”, and their newest “I was a teenage anarchist”. They tore through new material, breathing new life into songs from White Crosses. I personally find the studio recordings fairly flat, however the live treatment is full blast and colorful.

New band members, George Rebelo (Former drummer of Hot Water Music) and Keyboardist Franz Nicolay (ex The Hold Steady) were on stage, but even with these additions, Against Me’s overall sound was largely unchanged. Nicolay is an excellent keyboardist but his playing was barely audible. This could have been due to lack necessity for keyboard in the band’s songs, which are already well filled out, or due the strained Ritz sound system. So strained in fact that it seemed to impair the bands performance and visibly upset singer Tom Gabel (understandably) by the end of their set.

The sold out room of fans waiting to see Los Angeles based Silversun Pickups were now primed and ready for the band. They were treated to about an hour and a half of shoegaze style songs delivered confidently and free of sound system issues. Singer/guitarist Brian Aubert was all smiles as he and Bassist Nikki Monninger had the crowd singing and swaying to extended versions of many of their songs. Drummer Chris Guaniao was one of the most animated drummers I have seen in quite a while. His timing was impeccable and with his cymbal set high and hair flailing, was visually impressive. Radio hits, “Panic Switch” and “Lazy Eye” closed out their performance and the overfull crowd at The Ritz spilled out into the Ybor streets.

I have seen many reviews in the past comparing Silversun Pickups to Smashing Pumpkins. I personally didn’t see the similarities. My Bloody Valentine? Maybe. Smashing Pumpkins? Not so much. Regardless, Silversun has a unique, well-constructed sound. Their five minute jam session style song structure is far removed from their touring partner’s 2 minute, hard edged anthemic songs. This was arguably an oddly coupled double bill.

I think it is important to note that Friday’s sold out show at The Ritz Ybor was NOT a punk rock show. If it were in fact a punk rock show, tickets would not have cost $28 - $40 with $8 beers and $25 T-Shirts. Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that cost equals punk rock. I’m saying that shows like this are merely billed as ‘punk rock’ to market an image. This distinction is important in that if I were to approach this show as a punk rock show, I would say it sucked. That is not the case. This was a worthwhile show even if the bands on the bill, and the fans they attract, were not well matched.


Against Me! Set List
White Crosses

Pints of Guinness Make You Strong

Thrash Unreal

Rapid Decompression

High Pressure Low

Don’t Lose Touch

Miami
I Still Love You
Julie
Bamboo Bones

Suffocation

New Wave
White
People For Peace

I Was a Teenage Anarchist

Sink, Florida, Sink

Silversun Pickups Set List
Growing Old is Getting Old
Well Thought Out Twinkles
Sort of
There’s no Secrets This Year
The Royal We
Little Lover’s So Polite
It’s Nice to Know You Work Alone
Future Foe Scenarios
Kissing Families
Catch and Release
Panic Switch
Lazy Eye

Photos By: Todd Fixler

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.