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| Photos by Robyn Lewis |
Titus Andronicus put out their first record two years ago, with conceptually bold and personality shy Patrick Stickles fronting the band of New Jersey scrabble through a hot-shit year of surprising everyone, outshowing most bands they opened for, and having some barely understandable mashup of literate and punk applied to them like clockwork. They toured constantly, then slightly less constantly in 2009, finding time to record a full-length record. Somewhere in there the band was essentially replaced, and Patrick Stickles grew more professional and a (slightly) bigger beard.
At the Entry last night the crowd in tow was the just-twenty-ones, newly fake ID'd, and the predictable gruff smattering of 'old' folks (I
count myself in this tally, especially at this show). These crowds tend
to provide ample love whut makes for lovable shows. Stickles & Co. walked onstage to
cheer and claps and hoots and yes love, the singer wearing a homemade Black
Flag shirt and what appeared to be every wristband from their tour,
saying a couple songs in, "On Monday we often wish we were somewhere else
from where we are. So let's take a trip right now to outer
space...because space is the place."
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| Photos by Robyn Lewis |
Titus Andronicus do not take you to
space, however. Their sound is somewhere in rock and roll history
between punk and straight anthem, songs about making and breaking in
America, and the boredom of being around...the young and the old and the
meh. If anything, Titus Andronicus want you to be okay with the being
here in the mucky muck, the mire, and the sun.
The t-shirts on sale said "Titus Andronicus Forever", which is a
sentiment that contains no small amounts of *wink* for someone as odd
and talented as Stickles -- to sail that boat forever into the horizon
seems a harsh yoke. Their newest record lost a lot of wail to time and
concept, was not as raw and baldly exciting, and you get the feeling
watching Patrick Stickles that he won't put up with that for long. The
energy in the room picked up substantially when they pulled out songs
from the first record, the strum & sing intros of their newest
slowing down heart rates and tuning up ears.
I think Titus Andronicus will be a band I'll always want to see. They
just grow up so fast.
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