Thin Lips from Philadelphia get us underway tonight with their awkward and geeky demeanour that cascades over their college rock infused punk songs . Similar to tonights headliners so naturally the quartet get a warm reception from the ever growing Bierkeller as frontwoman Chrissy Tashjian quotes her hatred for Donald Trump but also her love and support for the LGBT community . The toilets in the venue tonight have had posters put up to let people know its okay to use whatever gender of bathroom you feel comfortable with and identify with , a great touch by the bands and the venue .
Also hailing from Philly is The Superweaks . There ’ s now 6 people on the stage complete with two vocalists and a Korg synthesiser for the beautifully bearded Evan Bernard . The music is still in the college rock spectrum but theres definitely an added sense of fun and energy in the bands performance . There ’ s lighter in the air moments , heartfelt banter and the band and crew help out the guys to get on top of shoulders for their final song ‘ How To Put An Audience To Sleep In Under Two Minutes ’.
With that the lights go down and a rapturous applause welcomes on tonights heroes in Modern Baseball . The guys smash straight through pretty much the first half of their new record Holy Ghost which sounds absolutely huge in this room tonight , getting the best response of anything the quartet play all night . There ’ s smiles and laughs on and off stage even with the elephant in the room being glaringly obvious . That elephant being that Brendan Lukens is not here to play and sing his songs for us , he made the decision to stay at home and work on his on going mental health issues which he explained via the bands social media accounts . A brave decision and one which we wish him the best with .
The band make a statement on this just over the halfway point as guitarist and vocalist Jacob Ewald goes solo with his acoustic guitar for a few songs and announces that the tour members would be coming out to help sing Brendan ’ s songs . This situation increases the hysteria and feels almost like a celebration and coming together in a persons time of need . It looks like great fun on stage and just as fun of it as everyone loses their collective shit to make tonight feel magical .
Words and photos by Joshua Clarke .
www . eliteonlinemag . com 185