Say Anything Blew Back Into Chicago With New Album Under Its Sails
By Katie Karpowicz in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 12, 2014 8:00PM
Some individuals are born to create and perform music. Of course there are a limitless number of creative persons in the world but sometimes you can't help but feel their inspirations could be channeled through a number of mediums. Some people are just born to be frontmen (and women). Max Bemis pop-punk act Say Anything is one of those people.
Bemis has quietly become one of the most prolific songwriters in his musical arena, having just released his fifth proper full length with Say Anything, two solo albums, a joint album with his wife Sherri DuPree of the band Eisely under the name Perma, a joint album with Saves The Day's Chris Conley under their Two Tongues moniker and countless songs through his "Song Shop," in which fans can pay for personalized songs written, sung and performed by Bemis.
In our humble opinion, he's always saved his best material for Say Anything and it's nice to see his critical success come full circle. Say Anything's 2004 debut ...Is A Real Boy earned the attention of high profile publications like Rolling Stone. The band proceeded to fall into the oft-ignored world of Warped Tour and Hot Topic with its next three releases. Bemis seems to be back in the spotlight, talking to outlets like Billboard and Pitchfork, with his latest and most ambitious release Hebrews.
The band's latest tour in support of its new album rolled through Chicago last night on Concord Music Hall and the sold out crowd's energy was enough to blow a fuse in the place. Perhaps literally so. By far the most unique and curious part of the night was in the middle of the fourth song of the set "Baby Girl I'm A Blur" the stage inexplicably, temporarily lost power. What the crowd initially assumed to be a part of the act soon became apparently unintentional. After around five minutes of darkness, silence and scrambling Concord employees the source of the problem was (again inexplicably) fixed and the show went on uninterrupted.
We were most excited to hear how songs off Hebrews (a rock album purposely recorded without rock music's most basic element: the guitar) would translate live. Bemis has revised the members of his touring band in recent years (its current lineup includes former Taking Back Sunday member Fred Mascherino) but its structure remains the same: guitars, bass, drums, keyboard.
If we had one complaint about the night, it would be the muddy mix coming from the stage which limited the amount of musical detail we could hear during the new songs. However, it's safe to say the new songs worked. The rowdy "Boyd" took on an especially punk-rock energy in the live setting.
Say Anything was sure to not skip over its previous releases through the ninety-minute set too. Surprisingly rare live performances came from "The Writhing South" and "Surgically Removing The Track" off the band's first and second albums, respectively. "A Boston Peace" off one of Bemis's earliest recordings was another live gem.
A two-song solo acoustic breakdown (which included "Every Man Has A Molly" and an amusing cover of ODB's "Got Your Money") followed by a rendition of "Belt" joined by the night's opening band members rounded out a perfectly pleasant show.
Speaking of the opening bands, it's at this point we feel it necessary to praise direct openers The Front Bottoms for a set that not only entertained but reminded us of the rambling, stream of consciousness, desperately self-assuring composures the now defunct Bomb The Music Industry! used to pump out. It was further proof that there's great music out there past what the "elite" music critics are covering.