With a cooler full of goodies, myself and some friends made the trip out to the beautiful and perfectly located Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ. I must say, I applaud management for making this venue the hardest to find in my experience of concert-going. I'm not going to lie. The hours it took to get to the venue pissed us off, and consequently, we decided to hang out in the parking lot with others instead of seeing the opening bands. I love seeing the opening bands, but last night was about Brand New and their return.

This is the third or fourth time I've seen Brand New and their energy was out of this world. Starland Ballroom was on the verge of exploding, with everyone screaming out every single word to every single song. I could barely hear Jesse over the crowd. The band was in top form and sounded great. The floor was packed, as well as the sides, and there was barely anywhere to move.

Jesse came out to the stage and the thumping of the drums began as he yelled "I'm sinking like a stone to the sea...I'm burning like a bridge for your body..." The crowd went crazy -- and Brand new is back, at least for now.

Highlights for me were "Tatou" (just because it was the first song they played), "Quiet Things..." (I love this song live), "I Will Play My Game..." (crazy energy), "Soco Lime," "Seventy Times Seven" and the last song, "Play Crack the Sky." Jesse didn't talk much during the show, but made some comments such as saying the album had been finished on Monday and they were glad to be back. Later on before the encore, "I'm going to go and pretend to go away for a few minutes and I'll be back to play a couiple more." Thanks for being honest, Jesse.

Recently there's been a lot of buzz over the demos and whatnot. I'm going to be brutally honest -- the new songs didn't sound too great. One of them, and unfortunately my friend agrees, sounded like Maroon 5. But I'm sure the new album is going to be killer.

All in all, a great show. High energy, but seemed rather short and I wish they would play more stuff off Your Favorite Weapon, such as "Failure by Design," "Jude Law..," etc. I'm excited to see more shows on this tour.

Without further ado, here is the set list:

• Tautou
• new song
• Okay, I Believe You But My Tommy Gun Don't
• Jaws Theme Swimming
• The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows
• new song (Untitled)
• I Will Play My Game Beneath the Spin Light
• The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot
• The Shower Scene
• Me vs. Maradona vs. Elvis
• The No Seat Belt Song
• Soco Amaretto Lime
• new song (Piano, Sound FX) [untitled 7]
• Sic Transit Gloria...Glory Fades
• Seventy Times Seven
• Play Crack the Sky