Plea For Peace/Take Action Tour 2002

live in Chicago [night three] (2002)

Megan

Due to the unfortunate necessity of college, we arrived at six and missed Common Rider, which somewhat bummed me out because I do enjoy seeing the opening bands. We made it just in time for The Lawrence Arms. I think I may have seen them live once or twice before, but I've never really listened to their music otherwise. The Chicago natives managed to put on a really energetic set. The crowd remained fairly calm while they played, but seemed receptive to their music. The songs were very accessible and easy to listen to. All in all, the Lawrence Arms was definitely a band worth checking out.

Poison the Well was up next. Their music doesn't really ring my bell, but they still managed to put on a great show. The crowd really dug them. The music was heavy, I just couldn't get into the shouting and couldn't understand a word the lead singer said. Although Poison the Well wasn't for me, I have a lot of respect for all of the bands on this tour that are supporting such a worthwhile cause.

Dan Andriano played a special acoustic set after Poison the Well. He opened with "Maybe I'll Catch Fire" and it was all uphill from there. Dan played amazingly well, pulling from both Alkaline Trio and solo material. His new solo split with Mike Felumlee is slated for release October 29th I believe. Andriano also threw in a great cover of Morrissey's "There's a Place in Hell for me and my Friends." Dan played three songs from the new split, then the cover, followed by "Another Innocent Girl." He closed the set with "Crawl." All in all, it was an amazing set, it'd be nice to see Dan play a few more solo shows around Chicago.

I thought that Dan would be a hard act to follow, but Swedish group The (International) Noise Conspiracy accepted the challenge with ease. In my opinion, T(I)NC managed to steal the entire show. The energy they possessed blew me away. The band had such a presence and managed to give out political rants without sounding pretentious. The songs I recognized in their set were "Smash it up" and "Capitalism Stole my Virginity." The lead singer reminded me of Mick Jagger with his nonstop energy. The way he climbed all over everything I thought he was going to break himself. The man is fearless. T(I)NC completely won over the crowd. From their coordinated outfits to their amazing music, this band was completely amazing. Their set was totally rad. I really enjoyed their music, it seemed to have a throwback to the 60s and 70s in it. I would definitely recommend checking out their albums.

The Promise Ring closed the night. I won't call their set disappointing, but I will say it was lacking. Perhaps it was because they had to follow T(I)NC, but there was just something missing. Wait, I know what it was… it was older material. The energy was up there, the songs they played were tight, but the set was essentially all "Wood/
Water." TPR introduced one new song to the crowd to give everyone an idea of what direction the band is heading. Nothing against "Wood/Water," I think it's an amazing CD, I just believe that they did their previous albums an injustice by ignoring them. Although TPR was working with limited time (they only played nine songs), I still believe there could've been at least one throwback to their older material. My love for The Promise Ring hasn't faltered, the songs they did play were exceptional, especially my personal favorite from the new album "Stop Playing Guitar." Other tracks from the album played included "My Life Is At Home," "Suffer Never," "Size of Your Life," "Become Anything One Time," "Wake Up April," and "Get on the Floor."

Not even the slight disappointment of The Promise Ring's set could put a damper on a night of such amazing music for such a worthwhile cause, the National Hopeline Network. Check out www.takeactiontour.com to find out how you can help.