Quite a show this was. Ceremony and Nothing did a short run of shows with a local act for each, opening in Boston was the hardcore band Brother. Had a lot of fun with some back and forth energy.
Brother
Genre: Hardcore Punk FFO: The Rival Mob, Coke Bust
Hailing from New Bedford MA, the home to many hardcore greats, is Brother. Brother play an angry force of fast hardcore that's very in your face and the slow parts got the crowd moving. At one point, guitarist, Trevor Vaughn, stated "We have merch, don't buy from the touring bands, they already have enough money, we need it". I suck at reviewing hardcore bands, this is all I got for you, but Brother is an awesome band.
Nothing
Genre: Shoegaze/Alternative Rock FFO: My Bloody Valentine, Radiohead
Nothing began the same way as when I saw them play at The Sinclair two summers ago but with a twist. Colin of Arabia came on stage but this time wearing a Santa suit and said a few words: "You guys have been fucking naughty" he was mumbling for the most part and it was tough to make out but he said "fucking naughty" a lot. Colin left the stage and Nothing began, opening with Downward Years to Come. A projection was behind them presenting the "N" logo and the lighting was colorful moving around the room to the songs. I honestly didn't think they could top the performance put on at the Sinclair but I think they actually did. They played even louder and with better sound quality. Nothing eventually did play a new song that did display the same sound in the direction of Tired of Tomorrow. Personally I do enjoy the new sound, but prefer the older shoegaze sound they began with. In between songs, a drunk crowd member would be constantly shouting at the band, I could not understand what he was saying but it was hilarious. Eventually he just screamed "Just suck his dick already!". Domenic also stated they had a "Boston guy" in the band now and pointed to bassist Nick Bassett. When Nothing played their final song, Eaten by Worms, a member of the crowd clapped along in the beginning until Domenic said "Dude you're really fucking me up". Overall, incredible performance and a good selection of songs consisting of the shoegaze hits and the new songs.
Ceremony
Genre: Hardcore Punk/Post-Punk FFO: Trash Talk, Joy Division
I'm gonna start with two things: 1. I couldn't stay the whole set 2. I've never seen Ceremony before. People have told me that lateley Ceremony live is usually half and half the new post punk sound and old punk sound. I couldn't help but think how that was gonna play out. I'm not too familiar with the post punk albums but I am a fan, but I'm more familiar with the punk side of Ceremony. They opened with a song off L Shaped Man and let the last note drone on only to have the bass begin playing Kersed. The moment the crowd heard the first bass note, violence was spawned. the crowd rushed the stage everyone was flying left and right it was incredible seeing such a shift in energy. When the post ;unk songs would play, the crowd still knew the songs and sung along. It made me happy to see that Ceremony is one band that nobody gave the whole "They aren't the same band anymore" label and still enjoy the music. I gotta say though, a ton of people were getting thrown out for the hardcore songs and it got to the point where there were security guards just in the middle of the pit to keep people from going "too hard". I've seen it happen at two other shows that involved aggressive bands it just makes me think if they don't want it don't book these bands at Sonia, the middle east both upstairs and down have no problem with it. Ranting aside, I left shortly after hearing Sick of Living. I'm sure the rest of the set was as amazing as what I already seen. I was told by a friend that this may have been Ceremony's last tour and probably last Boston show so I'm glad I got to see them play at least once. Ceremony thought you were better in 2006 too.
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