Last week Emma and I went to two Barnett brothers gigs; the first being at The Cricketers in Kingston and the second being at The Lexington in London. For those who don't know, the Barnett brothers are Greg Barnett from The Menzingers and Bobby Barnett from Captain We're Sinking. Last October at The Fest the idea was pitched for them to come over to England for a bit of a vacation and to play some solo acoustic shows. Emma and I both had the time booked off work for my birthday and luckily this coincided with the tour so we decided to go to two shows. I thought it might make interesting reading for us to each review a show and then combine them into a single blog post that compares and contrasts the shows. Emma reviewed the Cricketers show (italics) and I did the Lexington gig.
Dave House is one of those names that
I’ve heard of but, for one
reason or another, never actually listened to before – and no I’m not thinking
of Dave Hause. He said himself
that he has been off the radar for a while – and incidentally had to re-learn
his old songs for the show – whilst he’s been working on some new material
under his new guise, Permanent Record. But, being from Kingston and having
released his last album (in 2009) on Banquet Records, it was no surprise that
much of the crowd knew Dave and his music. Even if I didn’t necessarily know
the songs it was great to hear everyone else singing along with such
enthusiasm. Dave joked that all of his songs are either about ‘the kids of
today’ or ‘water’, of which he had several examples of each! His enthusiastic
performance, complete with foot stomping that shook the small stage, was
excellent and exactly what was needed to kick off the night. Dave has certainly
earned himself a new fan and I’ll be checking out whatever he does next.
Support at The Lexington came from Brightr. I wasn't aware
of Brightr until that show but I've since learned that he plays acoustic pop
punk songs. When we walked into the Lexington we looked towards the stage and
noticed a stool on the stage, which was surprisingly used by Brightr and which
I felt took away from his stage presence. That being said he had some fantastic
songs with some very powerful messages behind them. Brightr is definitely a man
to look out for. We had decided to hang out towards the back of the Lexington
tonight to watch the gig. This had some good and bad points, the good being a
fantastic view and the bad being people at the back seemingly wanted to just
have a chat rather than watch the artists they had paid to see. I always find
people who spend the majority of a gig talking quite annoying and think it's
quite disrespectful to whoever is playing.
I must admit that I’ve not really
listened to as much Captain We’re Sinking as a punk rock fan perhaps should
have. I certainly didn’t know that the band featured the brother of Greg
Barnett – something that apparently a lot of people didn’t know (much to Bobby
and Greg’s amusement). I was also very surprised to discover that the band has
never actually made it over to the UK to play shows before – maybe that’s one
reason why I wasn’t too familiar with them! Although he has some of his own
solo material, Bobby’s set mostly consisted of Captain We’re Sinking songs. Something
I imagine is just what fans wanted to hear really! He was clearly very grateful
to have the chance to play in the UK and shared stories between songs,
including one in which he and Greg, as 5 and 6 year olds, tried to find the
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in a sewer. The main thing that struck me about
Bobby’s performance was what a great voice he has, which isn’t really something
you often think to comment on in the world of punk rock. In particular I really
loved his passionate performance of ‘Brother,’ which, although not strictly
about just Greg (it’s more
about friends being like brothers), felt pretty fitting.
Up next was the first of the Barnett Brothers – Bobby. The
Captain We're Sinking front man was making his first visit to the UK ever
(which I found surprising as I thought that Captain We're Sinking would have
made the journey from Philadelphia at some point). I've always been impressed
with Bobby's voice whenever I've heard it on record but live it's something
else! It's incredibly powerful and the emotion is amazing. He mentioned that he
had brought seventy-five copies of his solo album with him on the tour but had
already sold out so would be playing a set consisting of only Captain We're
Sinking songs for the evening. Classics such as Brother, More Tequila Less Joe
and my personal favourite Crushed By Milwaukee's Best all got played to
fantastic reactions. To make acoustic shows truly memorable the crowd needs to
be involved and happily there were enough people in the crowd who knew Bobby's
songs to sing along. Bobby was great, I'm hoping the love shown to him on this
tour will encourage him to bring Captain We're Sinking over to the UK very
soon.
At this point I should probably mention
that The Menzingers are almost definitely my favourite punk band in the world.
I’m a huge fan of the band and, I must admit, a big fan of Greg in particular.
I love Tom May too but there is just something about Greg’s songs that connect
with me better than most of Tom’s do (sorry Tom!). Plus his voice is one of my
favourites in punk rock. I was ridiculously excited when I found out that Greg
would be venturing across the pond to play some solo acoustic shows and I can’t
deny that I am the main reason
we ended up going to two nights of the tour in a row (though it was partly
because it coincided with Colin’s birthday too). It was a little odd at first
for Greg to be up on stage without the rest of the guys, as well as playing
stripped back versions of The Menzingers’ songs rather than the loud, fast
tunes we are used to. He started his set with Gates and it wasn’t long before
the crowd was singing along, much the same as for a full band electric show, although
without any stage diving! It was great to hear Greg talking in between songs
and interacting with the Cricketers’ crowd, telling us how the Barnett brothers
tour idea came about – Greg just wanted a holiday! Colin and I both agreed that
he spoke a lot more than at a typical Menzingers show, which was no bad thing.
Something I love about Greg is how genuinely happy he seems to be when
performing, particularly when a sing-a-long moment happens with the crowd. It
was awesome to hear some different versions of songs, such as Deep Sleep, and
also songs that are not played so often – On The Impossible Past, My Friend
Chris and Sun Hotel pt. 2 – as well as all the (Greg) hits. The whole set was
excellent and definitely over too soon. I’d been keen to see Greg play solo
again but now I also just want to see The Menzingers as a whole as soon as I
can!
Next up it was time for the man we'd all come to see, a few
of us not for the first time on this tour. Greg Barnett is the main singer in
one of the most loved punk bands to emerge in the past decade – The Menzingers.
Menzingers shows are well known for being crazy affairs with big sing-a-longs
and bodies flying everywhere so before the tour started I was curious to see
how it would translate into an acoustic environment. Turns out it translates
really, really well! From the opening song Gates to the final song In Remission
and the encore song Irish Goodbyes it was one big sing-a-long party. It was
like a massive punk rock choir. It was just amazing. At times we sang so loud
you couldn't actually hear Greg's voice through the microphone. Songs in
particular that stood out with the Lexington's adoring crowd were The
Obituaries, Good Things, Casey and I Don't Wanna Be An Asshole Anymore – the
later receiving massive "whoa-ohs" during the chorus. We were also
treated to some rarely played, softer songs such as Sun Hotel Part Two and My
Friend Chris. Throughout the entire set Greg had us gripped, showing a much
more story-telling side that we don't often see when he plays with The
Menzingers. For me this type of show is what punk rock is all about in 2016 – it's
about getting together with your friends and singing at the top of your voice
to songs that really mean something to you. There was some real emotion on show
at the Lexington that night and I suspect almost everybody in the room came
away moved.
Check out Greg's band The Menzingers here: https://www.facebook.com/themenzingers
Check out Bobby's solo stuff here: https://www.facebook.com/Bbarnett1289
Check out Bobby's band Captain We're Sinking here: https://www.facebook.com/captainweresinking
Check out Dave House here: https://www.facebook.com/iknowdavehouse
Check out Brightr here: https://www.facebook.com/wearebrightr
Check out Greg's band The Menzingers here: https://www.facebook.com/themenzingers
Check out Bobby's solo stuff here: https://www.facebook.com/Bbarnett1289
Check out Bobby's band Captain We're Sinking here: https://www.facebook.com/captainweresinking
Check out Dave House here: https://www.facebook.com/iknowdavehouse
Check out Brightr here: https://www.facebook.com/wearebrightr
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