Friday 08/12/06 Dashboard Confessional, Brand New @ Madison Sq. Gardens, New York

Brand New may not have come close to the mainstream success of the likes of Panic! At The Disco, yet are easily as watchable or thrilling. The most satisfying aspect of this is that Brand New succeed in winning over tonight’s capacity Madison Square Garden crowd through purely sonic methods, without resorting to the covers, gimmicks or needless frills of the Panic! tour. Though the manic opener, ‘Sic Transit Gloria (Glory Fades)’ is slightly marred by some dodgy sound engineering, there’s no denying the visceral thrill of Jesse Lacey’s yell of “die young and save yourself!”. The set veers between the eerie and the expansive, at times adhering to the quiet-bit-followed-by-a-loud-bit formula of Explosions In The Sky or Godspeed You Black Emperor!, extremely effective in such a vast arena.

It’s still emo, undoubtedly, but with a dash of maturity - the infantile breakups and ‘I hate my Dad’ self-indulgence has been long since dispensed with, and now there’s the fears of real-life to deal with, most specifically, Lacey’s life-threatening 2005 illness. The bizarre inter-song intrusion of the ‘What’s The Story? (Morning Glory)’ opening riff goes unnoticed by the majority of the confusing demographics of the audience, with the sparsely emo, largely female crowd broken up by the usual mix of chaperoning parents and bored boyfriends, and strangely, more than a few people in G-Unit attire. At times it’s a little overblown, especially in the tiresome use of feedback, but dynamic, catchy material from new album The Devil And God Are Raging Iniside Me proves just as enduring as the fan favourites from Deja Entendu. 

Whilst the crowd is unsurprisingly animated prior to the arrival of Dashboard Confessional, it still remains questionable how well the low-key histrionics of the majority of the back catalogue will translate to such a huge venue.  Any fears are instantly allayed, however, with a grandstanding opening rendition of ‘Don’t Wait’, the band emerging at first in silhouette, until tattooed troubadour Chris Carrabba makes his entrance to predictably deafening screams. The fuller sound of ‘Dusk And Summer’ certainly functions well on the live circuit, although a return to the stripped soul-searching of previous efforts has been mooted for future albums. What’s undeniable is Carrabba’s exuberance; whereas he once labeled himself “a walking open wound”, the pain is substantially less visible on his face tonight, even when revisiting the songs of his breakthrough album ‘The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most’. Maybe it’s because the newer songs are more about places and memories, rather than exact recollections of heartache and pain, or maybe it’s just the typically collaborative nature of a Dashboard Confessional concert.

When so many people are singing along with every word of every song, it’s hard not to smile- Carrabba can’t really be blamed for not sticking to gloomy emo stereotypes. An epic rendition of ‘Remember To Breathe’ becomes suddenly multi-dimensional thanks to subtle violin accompaniment, whilst on ‘So Long’, Johnny Lefler’s backing vocals prove more than a match for Adam Duritz’s cameo on the album version.

Despite its infancy, new single ‘Stolen’ is anthemic, with The Garden in full voice, whilst amazingly loud pre-encore screaming elicits a bombastic version of ‘Vindicated’ and the standard set-closer, ‘Hands Down’. The latter details, in Carrabba’s own words, “the best date that I ever had”, and when he claims, grinning from ear-to-ear, that the night has just about matched said date, you just about believe him.