Brand New – Live In Vancouver (06/01/16)

Brand New are an enigma. They’re a mystery wrapped in a cloud of secrecy. They float through the cracks, pulling at your emotions and then vanish without a trace. They don’t say anything, let the music do the talking and turn a cold shoulder at the idea of press.

This is a band that never does interviews. This is a band that didn’t even do a promo picture for over five years despite releasing two albums in the mean time. This is a band that abhors the spotlight.

So it makes sense that the band delivers their live show shrouded in mystery too -as their first date on their 2016 tour showed.

With the smell of incense burning throughout the building, the stage was covered in smoke before they even stepped up to the microphone and when they did, it was with no pomp or bravado. In fact, at first, Jesse Lacey almost just looked like a guitar tech before he cautiously started strumming Sealed To Me, the first of three brand new songs they played that night.

For the first half of the night, the band lived in the shadows. They were silhouettes with no front stage lights and blinding lights blaring from behind them. It was only when the back wall turned into a massive monitor with live camera feeds that you could see the band in full form. The lights were occasionally blinding, but added to the mystique and persona. Giving visual resonance to the sonic waves of The Archers Bows Have Broken,  Degausser, I Will Play  My Game Beneath The Spin Light and Luca among others.

Before the encore, they never spoke – only briefly saying “thanks” between two songs. Otherwise, Lacey and the gang looked down and focused on the instruments. It pulsed through and when the big songs –  Okay I Believe You But My Tommy Gun Don’t and Jesus for example – came on, everything simply erupted.

The encore itself consisted of two songs, Play Crack The Sky and the live debut of I Am A Nightmare and with a smashed guitar and a wave to the crowd, they were off.

The lights turned on and an upside down cross with the words “Brand New: 2000-2018” were projected on the stage. A cryptic message detailing the forecasted end of the band? Will they truly stay eighteen forever?

Who knows – and if we did, then it wouldn’t be Brand New.