In February, when Brand New was announced as the headliner for Spring Fair's concert, junior Chunwoo Kae was quoted saying, "It makes me sad that we still have mediocre bands come to Hopkins." I laugh at that comment, just like I laugh at the majority of the Hopkins community who missed out on the culmination of Spring Fair. Brand New, Long Island's biggest band besides Taking Back Sunday (who coincidentally played UMBC the same night), is not some mediocre band and has much more of a following here at Johns Hopkins than Talib Kweli, so I commend Spring Fair for their selection.
I intend to encompass all aspects of the show, not just the set. First off Brand New, a band I've been following since freshmen year of high school, a band I've seen play in front of fifty people back in the day, now seem to be letting their popularity get to their heads. The News-letter attempted an interview with Brand New, but the band backed out because they didn't want to talk about the new album, a lame reason indeed. Then, at the venue (aka the Rec. Center), I had no "pass" to get into the V.I.P. section (aka the track), so I was forced to the ground floor. With all that frustration in the past, the show began.
The Colour Revolt, a five piece indie-rock act out of Mississippi, was surprisingly well-received here, seeing as how Hopkins isn't the most musical of campuses. The band definitely earned their warm reception through a high energy performance, even when a majority of their set was slow in tempo. Jesse Coppenbarger and Sean Kirkpatrick, the two vocalists/guitarists, gave their all into every screaming note. Sometimes the cacophony got too intense, but at least the energy was there. It appeared obvious why Brand New had chosen the band as their opener. The Colour Revolt's sound is a perfect mix between Brand New and Modest Mouse.
After The Colour Revolt had left the stage, the waiting game began. After playing Green Day's "Dookie" several times through (not the best album to play when stalling for set-up time), Jesse Lacey of Brand New took the stage, and the crowd went crazy. He picked up his acoustic guitar and started playing "Soco Amaretto Lime."
Once he began singing, the crowd sang right along and I was taken aback at the sound the mob produced. As soon as the song ended, the rest of the band joined Lacey on stage. This was the second time Brand New had taken the stage in two years. And this was when the rock began. Brand New ripped right through songs off Deja Entendu, like their singles, "The Quiet Things..." and "Sic Transit Gloria." I thought Brand New would be rustier; however, they played their songs like they'd been on tour for months, and whatever mistakes they made, they more than made up for with sheer, uninhibited energy.
Brand New's set then dove into their first album, Your Favorite Weapon, and when the "Seventy Times Seven" riff began, everyone on the floor started moving. Brand New had finished their quite lengthy set, but they were not done. They came back and encored with two songs: First, a new song which will hopefully appear on the upcoming album and then, the song everyone had been cheering for all night, "Jude Law and a Semester Abroad."
My favorite moment in the set came when Jesse announced "Jude Law," and after a minute of playing, drummer Brian Lane mouthed the words, "I don't remember how this goes." This was a great moment because the crowd had wanted to hear the song all night, and Brand New gave in, even though it looked as if they hadn't even planned on playing it (At UVA, the week before, they encored with "Guern-
they encored with "Guernica" instead). Brand New then left the stage, left the audience completely satisfied, and left me a proud Brand New fan again.
Here is my beef. I looked around at the audience during the show and asked myself, "Where are the Hopkins students?" I saw people from other states, including Indiana and Georgia. I saw twelve-year-old kids and thirty-year-old men, both of which going crazy for Brand New. What I didn't see was the collective Hopkins student population. Some students were there but an abysmal amount. There were much more people at this concert than Talib Kweli last year, yet not enough of the percentage was from Hopkins. It's our Spring Fair, our concert! The entire Rec Center should have been packed to capacity with us, but once again, Hopkins' indifference wins out. Oh well, the people who went were part of something special, and the people who missed out, well, to quote Brand New, "I'm only hoping as time goes, you can forget."
