Against Me! wrapped up a short, 5-city North American tour in Baltimore this past Thursday and Friday evenings, with support from Toronto, Ontario’s Dilly Dally and Omaha, Nebraska’s Cursive. The band, now in its 22nd year of existence chose 5 North American cities and played 4 records (2005’s Searching for a Former Clarity, 2007’s New Wave, 2010’s White Crosses and 2014’s Transgender Dysphoria Blues) straight through, spread across two nights (2 albums on night one, and 2 albums on night two). Lead singer and guitarist Laura Jane Grace told fans that they did not play a lot of these songs very often and that this experience really was for the fans… a form of appreciation for their many years of support.
Night One
Unfortunately, I was not able to make it to Thursday’s performance by Dilly Dally. By the time I arrived at Ram’s Head Live, the space was already packed for Cursive who were in mid performance when I walked in.
Cursive play a loud and energetic form of indie rock which includes elements of emo and art-rock. Despite having been around for 24 years, this was the first time I’d ever seen them perform. They did not disappoint. I was so impressed with their energy onstage that I very much looked forward to night number two. I was only able to catch the last four songs of their set but resolved to be on time the following night for the full experience.
Against Me! took the stage in complete darkness and singer Laura Jane Grace wasted no time, briefly greeting the crowd before kicking off album number one, Searching for a Former Clarity. Upon singing her first “Miami!” nearly every fan in the club had their fist in the air. A mosh pit opened up during “Mediocrity Gets You Pears (The Shaker)”. Before performing “Justin”, Grace welcomed the fans to night number one and added, “I particularly wanted to do these shows in Baltimore because Searching (For a Former Clarity) was recorded in Baltimore 15 years ago. This is a song about a war that was happening then, that is still happening now.”
The crowd pogoed uncontrollably on “Unprotected Sex with Multiple Partners”. Grace curtailed her banter for the next 6 songs, with little to no pauses. “You’ve always been very kind to this band Baltimore… or maybe it was technically Towson” Grace joked before “Even at Our Worst, We’re Still Better Than Most (The Roller)”. (Full disclosure, I saw Against Me! Perform at the Recher Theater in Towson, Maryland in 2008). There was a very strong crowd singalong on “Problems”. Then the song “Don’t Lose Touch”, saw the crowd once again bouncing and clapping along to the syncopated ska-like guitar on the track. When Grace sang the line “Confessing childhood secrets of dressing up in women’s clothes” from the albums final and title track, the entire crowd “ooooh”-ed loudly before restarting their hand claps as Grace sang “Let this be the end.”
They moved from record number one to record number two seamlessly. So quick was the backdrop change, that I did not even see it switch as I looked down for only a second. When I looked up, it had changed to the easily recognized tiger that graces the cover of New Wave. After blasting through the first two tracks on the album, they surprisingly omitted “Thrash Unreal”, one of their more well-known songs. A fist pumping singalong commenced on “White People for Peace”.
Before a serious ass-shaking version of “Stop”, Grace told the crowd, “It is absolutely ok to hate this song. It is absolutely ok to get down with this song. Whatever way you want it baby.” They then powered through the next the next five songs with hardly a pause. Grace told the crowd, “I fucking love you. Dilly Dally, I love you. Cursive, I love you.” she asked the fans, “We’ll see you tomorrow too, right?” before closing out the main set with “Thrash Unreal” which had been earlier omitted from the set-list. They returned to play a 4-song encore of older fan favorites.
Night Two
Dilly Dally
Unlike the first night, I made sure to arrive nice and early for Dilly Dally, who hail from Toronto, Canada and who have been releasing music since 2014. Dilly Dally played a dark set, both in terms of their light show, but also musically. Many of the songs were slow to mid-tempo with loud, punishing guitars, deep bass and hard, pounding drums. Lead singer and guitarist Liz Ball’s vocals fall somewhere between Donita Sparks of L7 and Gyða and Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir of Iceland’s Múm. Their guitar histrionics bring to mind bands like Pixies or Silversun Pickups. They played 9 songs before thanking the crowd for coming early to watch them on the last show of their run with Against Me!
Cursive
Up next was Cursive. Upon taking the stage, Cursive front-man Tim Kasher asked the crowd, “Were any of you here yesterday? Well, hello again” before launching into the tightly wound “Stranded Satellite”, from the bands just released 9th full length Get Fixed. They quickly followed up with “Sierra” from 2003’s The Ugly Organ. The lights strobed during the heavier portions of the song in time with the bands frenetic stage presence. “Drunken Birds”, from 2012’s I Am Gemini, followed with its opening descending chords and machine gun drumming end.
In-between songs, Kasher welcomed the crowd by confessing that “The pleasure is all ours.” Kasher told the crowd that they have been playing newer songs from 2018’s Vitriola and their just released full length as well as songs from decades ago. He then remarked, “Listen to this one”, upon which they broke into Vitriola’s “Pick Up the Pieces”. This segued right into “From The Hips” from the 2009 album Mama, I’m Swollen and then continued right into “Black Hole Town” off of Get Fixed. The pace didn’t slow down as they moved right into “Driftwood: A Fairy Tale” from The Ugly Organ. A swirling sample of The Brains’ “Money Changes Everything” as performed by Cyndi Lauper opened Vitriola track “Life Savings”. “The Martyr”, from the 2000 record Domestica, followed. Kasher told the crowd, “This little ride is over for all of us, it was a fuckin’ blast.” He finished by saying, “Thanks to all of you for hanging out and being cool as fuck. We’ve just got a little bit left.”
They then launched into another new and highly political song from Get Fixed called “Barricades”. The song addressed current day racial tensions, ongoing segregation and the obliviousness of the US’s white majority. Kasher sang, “I was a middle-class kid from the middle west. I was the quintessential, sheltered innocent. I didn’t know what segregation meant. I didn’t have to know, the world I knew was white as snow. And so, I look back now at these severed towns. All the hate they spread, simply not spreading out. Fuck this denial, fuck their ignorant bliss.” They quickly followed with “Art is Hard” from The Ugly Organ and ended with “Dorothy at Forty” from 2006’s Happy Hollow.
Against Me!
Against Me! Took the stage on night two the same as they did on night number one, in complete darkness. Singer Laura Jane Grace only said, “Welcome to night number two”, before launching into the first track on the 2010 record White Crosses. The crowd was noticeably more energetic right away as crowd surfing began almost immediately during the opening title track. “White crosses on the church lawn, I want to smash them all!”, Grace sang as fans raised their fists in time. It’s not that the first night was subdued, but the second night was a Friday. It was clear the fans came out to party and have a good time fully aware that they didn’t have to get up early the next day for work.
During “I Was a Teenage Anarchist”, the crowd sang along loudly with Grace on the chorus, “Do you remember when you were young, and you wanted to set the world on fire?” Then, Grace playfully announced prior to playing “Because Of The Shame” that, “This record was written during the brief period of time where I was operating under the illusion that I quite possibly might have been meant to be a piano player.” They powered through “Suffocation”, “We’re Breaking Up” and an extremely rocking version of “High Pressure Low” with little pause and no in-between-song banter before slowing down for a beautiful version of “Ache with Me”.
Then, Grace once again joked with the crowd before “Spanish Moss” saying that the song was actually a paid advertisement for the Florida Board of Tourism. “Rapid Decompression” was a full-on sing-along. Grace thanked the crowd once again and added that they were currently working on a brand-new album. One fan called out for a song which wasn’t on the record and Grace reminded them that, “We’re doing an album” but added, “I agree though” before singing album closer “Bamboo Bones”. The fans raised their voices in unison with Grace as she sang, “What god doesn’t give to you, you’ve got to go and get for yourself.”
Just like the previous night, there was no pause between records. Against Me! moved right into 2014’s Transgender Dysphoria Blues, led by the drumming of Atom Willard with the full band filling in right behind him. The White Crosses backdrop quickly fell revealing a new backdrop, featuring the symbolic imagery of two hands holding a skull severed from the rest of the body. The crowd sang along so loudly with every single word out of Grace’s mouth however, the volume was most elevated on the lyrics in the chorus, “Rough surf on the coast, I wish I could have spent the whole day alone with you. With you.” The crowd continued singing along enthusiastically on “True Trans Soul Rebel”.
They played the next four songs on the album in quick succession. Then on “Dead Friend”, Grace smiled widely as she sang, looking up at all of the fans on the balcony above, as well as all of those beyond. Things slowed down a bit on the solemn but beautiful “Two Coffins” before they picked up the pace again on the propulsive “Paralytic States”. Album closer, “Black Me Out”, began with handclaps and goose-bump-inducing vocal that were synchronized between Grace and the crowd. They collectively gave a huge “Fuck you!” to anyone and everyone that would ever try to bring you down, singing, “Black me out. I want to piss on the walls of your house. I want to chop those brass rings off your fat fucking fingers. As if you were a king-maker. As if, as if, as if. Black me out.”
Following the conclusion of Transgender Dysphoria Blues, Grace told two stories about how much supporting acts Dilly Dally and Cursive mean to the band and just as they did on night number one, Against Me! treated the fans to a 4-song encore of fan favorites.
Courtesy of Tom Blose
This was a show that no Against Me! fan will soon forget.
Enjoy photos of each band performing at Rams Head Live – Dilly Dally and Cursive on October 25th and Against Me! on October 24th and 25th. All photos copyright and courtesy of Shantel Mitchell Breen.
