Against Me! Summer Tour feat Screaming Females – REVIEW

The Against Me’s Summer tour brought them to The Metro in Chicago. With them came supporting acts, Screaming Females and Lemuria. You can check out our review after the break.

By the time I finally arrived at the Metro, I was nearly half asleep and ready for the day to be over. As it was I was already late, but made it just in time to hear the last 4 songs of the opening act’s set. Right away the friendly staff at the Metro put me in a better mood. Usually most people blow off the first band at any show, but if anyone blew off Lemuria, it was a mistake. I knew none of the songs and had no expectations. Within minutes the Buffalo, New York natives had me bobbing my head along to lyrics I didn’t know. The rest of the crowd soon joined me and by the end of Lemuria’s set, they had definitely gained some new fans. Lead singer, Sheena Ozzella, had a wonderful voice and my only complaint would be that the vocals just weren’t loud enough. Overall their performance was upbeat and set the mood just right for the next performers.

As they would reiterate time and time again, the Screaming Females are based out of New Brunswick, New Jersey. By the time they took the stage the main floor was starting to fill in. They came out to a pretty good applause from the show goers and even had a few diehard fans who truly embodied the band as they were all females and screaming. Nothing could have prepared me for what I was going to hear next. Lead singer Marissa Paternoster has to be no bigger than 5 feet tall and maybe weighs 100 lbs, but the minute that little girl opened her mouth she had everyone’s attention in the room. She truly commanded the stage with her larger than life vocals and fast paced shredding of the guitar. Bassist King Mike and drummer Jarrett Dougherty also did their part and had some fun on stage. Besides the great music, I couldn’t help but notice one guy‘s attempt at starting a moshpit. Lets just say one man moshpit = EPIC FAIL. Seriously don’t be that guy. They are a true compliment to punk rock as a genre. The Screaming Females may never get MTV big, but surely they will gain more and more fans wherever they perform.

Yesterday I was on the fence about Against Me! I mean I liked one or two songs, but never really paid them much attention. Today I can truthfully say I am a HUGE fan of Against Me! By the time everything was set up on stage for them, the main floor was packed with eager fans with beers in hand ready for the Floridians to tear shit up. The Sunshine State boys did not disappoint as they took the stage and simply never gave it back. Energy, energy, and more energy is all I can say. These guys never took a song off and spoke all of only a word or two between songs. It was so refreshing to see a band having as much fun as the crowd was. The main floor was nuts and the crowd erupted for every song on the set list, singing along to every lyric lead singer Tom Gabel spewed. Beside the raw energy, the thing that stood out the most to me about the band’s set was the harmonies. While the band’s harmonies sound crisp on recordings, nothing can touch how tight and in sync they are live. Lead Guitarist James Bowman and Andrew Seward have phenomenal timing and voices that compliment Tom perfectly. Jay Weinberg also made an impression, as he was an absolute animal on the drums. He too sang along to just about every song they played (although without a mic). Against Me! ended an amazing show with the song “Thrash Unreal”, the perfect sing along, but also a song with deep meaning and it perfectly describing the band’s performance.

Information about the review…
Tour: Against Me! Summer Tour feat Screaming Females
Bands: Against Me!, Screaming Females and Lemuria
Date: June 17, 2011
Venue: The Metro in Chicago, IL