8,387 days. That’s how much time had passed since the last Jawbreaker show I saw in DC. It was April 10, 1996, when Jawbreaker shared a stage with Fluf and Garden Variety at the Black Cat. To say I was psyched for this show would be a total understatement. When word of their reformation spread for their Riot Fest show in Chicago, in 2017, I was completely bummed that my schedule would not allow for a trip. I had hoped beyond hope that the one-off show would blossom into a full-on reunion, complete with a tour which would reach the East Coast. And then it happened. A short East Coast tour was finally announced. The tickets were secured immediately.
The venue was surprising. Jawbreaker performed at The Anthem, a 6,000-seat mini-stadium. Sure, the venue might not have been the best fit for a band like Jawbreaker, who cut their chops playing the iconic DIY venue 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley, California in the early 90’s, but who cares? When so much time passes after the break-up of any band that commands a cult-like following as Jawbreaker does, is anyone really going to complain about a strange choice of venue when there may not be a chance to see them again? I sure wasn’t. Would this show have been better in a tiny club? For sure, but the larger venue allowed for more comfortable environment in which to enjoy the music and just have fun.
The anticipation was thick on Thursday night. The crowd ranged from devoted fans to first-timers who never thought they’d never get the chance to see a band that, with help from Rancid and Green Day, defined popular 90’s punk rock. It was an age diverse crowd running the gamut from gray-haired and heavily tattooed veterans, to pink and blue haired teens in jackets adorned with fresh Fugazi and Dead Kennedy’s patches. Jawbreaker’s music transcends age.
When the lights dimmed and the beginning theme of the not-so-well known film Raggedy Man (which served as their entrance music) started to sound, the anticipation shot up even more. The entrance music gave way to the first few notes of “Shield Your Eyes”, the opening track from 1992’s Bivouac, and the crowd went wild. Once the song ended, guitarist and lead singer Blake Schwarzenbach joked about the size of the venue, “What a charming, small room you have here.” The humor was not lost on the crowd.
They powered through “Jinx Removing” from what is to many, the bands seminal work, 1994’s Steve Albini produced 24 Hour Revenge Therapy. They followed that with “Chemistry”, from the bands only major label record, Dear You, before playing lesser known compilation track “Housesitter”. This run of songs ended with Schwarzenbach joking with the crowd, “Are you kind of a restrained crowd? You seem a little restrained.”
“Want”, from the bands 1990 debut record Unfun became the first sing-a-long of the evening with Schwarzenbach’s raspy voice uniting with the crowd to belt out a noticeably unrestrained “I,I,I,I,I,I,I,I,I,I,I,I, I want you”, in perfect unison. Then Schwarzenbach remarked, “This is a pummeling set”. And he was right. The setlists have been changing every single night of the tour. Fans haven’t easily been able to predict what they might hear, and Thursday was no different. It was one crushing fan favorite after another, including the autobiographical “West Bay Invitational” and “Save Your Generation”, the latter from Dear You. They turned in wonderful performances of “Condition Oakland” complete with recorded samples heard on the album. Afterwards they performed “Accident Prone”, in which Schwarzenbach pleaded, “If I go, don’t forget the one good thing I almost did.”
Up next was and intense version of “Parabola”, from their second album, Bivoac. Then they played the slow burning, but equally crushing and dark “Jet Black”, also taken from Dear You. This song ends with a sample of Christopher Walken, from the film Annie Hall, saying, “The sound of shattering glass, flames rising out of the flowing gasoline”. The final two songs of the main set, with barely even a pause between the two were, “The Boat Dreams From the Hill” and “Boxcar”, both taken from 24 Hour Revenge Therapy. These songs are anthems in their own right. The crowd went bezerk during “Boxcar”, with many counting out in tandem with Schwarzenbach, “One, Two Three, Four, who’s punk, what’s the score?”
The band returned to the stage after a brief exit and played “Ache” from the 1994’s 24 Hour Revenge Therapy before ending with compilation track “Kiss the Bottle”, with Schwarzenbach cheekily remarking “Thank you so much, that’s the end of our show.” And with that, it was over. Fans once again left wondering if that will be our last glimpse of such a crucially important and beloved band, or if the future still holds great things for this Northern California three-piece. Now we wait, but hopefully this time, not 8,000 more days.
Enjoy these photos from Jawbreaker performing at The Anthem on March 28, 2019. All photos copyright and courtesy of Shantel Mitchell Breen/These Subtle Sounds.
