“If you can spell my name right, I’ll make out with you!” I went out on a limb and threw an A into ‘Britnay’, figuring that there had to be some spelling curveball to justify the challenge. I was wrong and my bleached blond love stumbled on down the aisle. That brief encounter turned out to be the most interesting part of the Brand New show at Nassau Coliseum on Saturday.
That’s not to say that Brand New put on a bad show. For some songs, the band was able to make the massive Coliseum feel like an intimate bar gig, an achievement for which it deserves much credit. Overall, though, the night felt like an over formulated re-run that went completely by the numbers. For a band that was formed on Long Island, this venue should have been a sold-out homecoming. While the standing room floor was packed with bodies, the surrounded sections were dotted with large swathes of empty seats. Of course, that’s not shocking for a place as big as Nassau Coliseum on the weekend after Thanksgiving, but the overall feeling of the night was underwhelming.
The set list was littered with songs from the band’s last two albums with the slightest amount of early stuff sprinkled in. Brand New’s sound has grown more sophisticated since its debut, which revolved mostly around the heartbreak of lost high-school loves, and everyone in the arena could sense the boredom in the performers for the few times they had to play an old favorite. That being said, when they did phone in an early tune, the crowd ate it up. A single song they played from that first album garnered more of a reaction than the rest of the show all together.
When the band enjoyed what it was playing, however, the guys focused in and crafted a tone that made the Coliseum feel like a small club in Brooklyn. Here the band’s real talent of creating an aural mood came out in full force. If there was more of a sense of play with the audience, this show could have been something memorable.
Given the opportunity to see Brand New at a smaller venue, I would give it another chance because there were enough bright spots to keep me interested, but as far as Saturday night went, the theme held through from beginning to end: unimpressive.
blitzvixen
