The Menzingers – Live in Vancouver (12/08/23)

It was Christmas break 2013. I had taken a Greyhound bus back to Edmonton for the holidays and telling my dad all about my adventures at Fest 12 earlier that year. I pulled up a video of The Menzingers at the Florida Theater and as we watched a few of their songs, my dad mentioned how happy the band looked on stage. Midway through Friday night’s set at the Harbour Event Centre in Vancouver, I looked up from the pit and saw Tom May jumping around with that big goofy smile and I remembered that conversation. It’s been ten years and four albums since I had that chat with my dad, but Tom May’s smile –  that still hasn’t changed.

For The Menzingers are, at their very core, a fun punk rock band. They’re heartfelt, raw, and passionate with songs that beg  you to throw your fist up in the air and sing along. The alternating vocals from Tom May and Gregor Barnett creates a one-two punch of vocal offerings while  Eric Keen bounces with confidence and ease, finger picking the bass line to keep the tempo.  May always has the most energy – jumping around with that big, goofy smile. He sings every song, even when he’s not the singer of that track.  Instead he becomes part of the audience, singing along with Barnett in the same way the crowd in front of him does.

Touring in support of their latest album, Some Of It Was True, this was not only their first Canadian stop on the tour but also their first time back in Vancouver since pre-Pandemic thanks to several Covid cancellations.  The cancellations added up to increase the anticipation and when they walked on to the stage to play Hope is A Dangerous Thing, that anticipation exhaled.

The band ripped through just over twenty songs, focusing heavily on cuts from Some of It Was True, After the Party and On The Impossible Past.  With a natural ability to balance raw energy with raw emotion, the set list ebbed and flow with circle pit anthems like Obituaries, Time Tables, I Don’t Wanna be An Asshole Anymore,  Try and America (You’re Freaking me Out) and their mellow tunes like Come On Heartbreak and Some of It Was True. It served as a reminder for how many great albums and songs they’ve  released over the years, as a song you may not have heard in a while came roaring back with a vengeance. 

So while this may have been in an old casino that shut down years ago, you could tell this was still the same band that just wanted to dance in a basement and stay in motion. After so many years, The Menzingers are still  having fun and that fun became contagious.

It was so contagious that as the band pulled out one of their latest singles: There’s No Place In The World For Me, I jumped around, I jockeyed for position, and I threw my hands in the air as I sung along: Sometimes I can’t help but think / There’s no place in this world for me / I’m never where I want to be / There’s no place in this world for me. It was cathartic and yet, the irony was not lost on me. Because while I – and the hundreds of other people crammed around me – sang “There’s no place in this world for me”, I couldn’t help but think: this is exactly where I’m meant to be.