For my first official post with Late Night Wallflower, I figured I would start things out with some pics from The Horrible Crowes‘ Bowery Ballroom performance last Thursday.

Given The Horrible Crowes frontman Brian Fallon’s strong belief in the sanctity of the live performance, I almost feel guilty for posting these photos. The man is not naive, he’s well aware we live in the Youtube age. Yet he confesses a yearning to go back in time, a time when the only way to see your favorite artist was by standing in front of their stage.

The band’s performance this past Thursday at Bowery Ballroom was the first of only two US dates. I really don’t want to give anything away for fear of ruining what the band may have in store for the lucky folks attending the LA show. I will say you are in for a treat. The band is tight, the music is right, and there’s couple of choice covers to round out the night. Enjoy.

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Photos by Bill Shouldis

A couple weeks back, we presented a show at Lit Lounge NYC that featured All Eyes West, Soul Control, Something About Death or Dying, and Descender. All four bands were amazing and I want to personally thank all of them for playing. Go see them all and buy their records! Thanks to everyone that came out as well.

Here are some photos that Bill Shouldis took at the show.

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Photos by Bill Shouldis

JEFF The Brotherhood played to a packed house at Brooklyn’s Death By Audio on Saturday. The set was a good mix of the band’s first album Heavy Days and their brand new longplayer We Are The Champions. I picked up the tour version LP of the new record at the show (limited to 500 on clear vinyl!) and the album definitely has a Blue Album Weezer feel to it. No complaints there.

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In the midst of their tour with the Dropkick Murphys, Against Me! went back to their roots for an afternoon show at the Mercury Lounge in NYC. This was definitely the smallest NYC show the guys had done in quite some time. I don’t think I’ve seen them play a venue this small since 2002 when they played at ABC No Rio. Things have clearly changed a lot since then but the show on that Saturday afternoon showed me a band at the top of their game. Kind of a rare thing to say from a band who just got dropped for a major label.

Adding drumming Jay Weinberg (yes, Max Weinberg’s son) recently didn’t hurt. Of all the times I’ve seen the band (I’ve lost track at this point. Probably more than 15 times), this might have been the best I’ve seen them play. The addition of Weinberg has re-energized them completely. AM!’s live shows have always been known for their no talking, rocket fire setlists but it seemed like they were having more fun that usual this time around.

Sure, it wasn’t the most energetic show crowd-wise. If you’re playing a 21+ venue at 2 pm when a lot of those in attendance may be nursing hangovers, I wouldn’t expect a lot of pogoing moshing youngsters. But to be quite honest, I enjoyed that (yes, I am getting older). But it wasn’t a totally tame show (that would just be weird). There were a few crowd surfers when the guys busted out some older numbers like “Walking Is Still Honest” and “Baby, I’m An Anarchist.”

I wonder where the band will go from here (label-wise, music-wise) but this show was an indication that things have not slowed down at all.

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All photos by Eric Van’t Zelfden

Double Dagger and Fucked Up headlined an awesome show at NYU this past Friday. Billed as a Valentine’s Day show, there wasn’t much love in the air – just a whole lot of bald white dudes, shirtlessness, and rage. In fact, the closest thing I saw to love was probably a bunch of pipsqueak little college kids dry humping in the corner. Sidenote – the show made me question whether or not I looked that young when I was a college freshmen. It was like a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese in there. (Sigh)

Anyways, while I was a fan of Double Dagger’s last album More, their live show is 1000x better. Also, I had no idea that there was no guitarist in the band. The bass is so fuzzy and distorted, however, that it makes guitars unnecessary – a rare feat if you ask me. The floor was shaking pretty much the entire time the band was playing too. Think Fugazi (sorry to use this overused comparison but this time, it’s somewhat true) meets Shellac and you’ve got Double Dagger. These guys should be huge.

Fucked Up was, well, Fucked Up. That’s not a bad thing of course. But I’ll admit, Double Dagger was a hard act to follow that night. The highlight of their set was the handful of songs they played from their upcoming full-length David Comes To Life. The songs sounded, dare I say, somewhat poppy. I mean, we aren’t talking like tongue-in-cheek pop here but certainly plenty of catchy hooks. I really, really liked everything I heard. I can’t wait for that album.

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