Brooklyn boys ‘I Am the Avalanche’ exploded onto the stage with ‘Holy Fuck’; a wise move, as the amount of ‘Woahs!’ enabled the entire crowd to join in, whether they had heard of the band before or not. The lead singer, Vinnie Caruana, seemed truly astounded by how much the crowd were enjoying themselves and extremely grateful for the support, which is humbling to see from a recent band nowadays. The fast riffs and melodic singing in 'The Gravedigger's Argument' was astounding to listen to, and the swift changes in the pace of the song highlighted how exciting they are to watch live.
The style of music Brand New perform is incredible; it ranges from melodic hardcore, to rock, to alternative. Despite being hard to define, they are a powerful and enticing live band; pure emotion oozes out of every lyric that escapes Jesse Lacey’s mouth. ‘Millstone’ had the crowd stood in amazement, yet the sound of everyone singing along was deafening. Jesse opened up for ‘Sic Transit Gloria.. Glory Fades’ by saying “This song is the best song we’ve ever wrote,” which was definitely apparent from the jumping which occurred as soon as the song started. ‘Seventy Times 7’ was an instant crowd pleaser; the lyrics are extremely strong and angry. A softer approach was met for the melodic ‘Mixtape’ and ‘Jesus’, with many lighters in the air and lots of swaying. Jesse is an incredible front man; not just due to his voice, but also how down-to-earth he is. He even had a rant about the different between American and English crisps, which was absolutely hilarious. After an impressive hour and a half set, ‘Brand New’ closed with ‘You Won’t Know’, the riff haunting everyone in the crowd.
