Live Concert Review: Bayside and Anxious

Starland Ballroom- 10 JUN 2022

The Importance of Devotion and Desire

Fucking COVID, right? First it keeps venues closed and now when venues can finally start to recoup with 2 years worth of fantastic tours it takes band members out of the fold. I mean come on, Thrice and Bayside together had the “elder (dont call me emo) emo” in me ready to pretend my bones don’t creak and shed a little energy in the pit.  2004 me would have lost his shit.  2022 me, was also stoked enough to have misplaced some fecal matter, if not fully lose his shit.

Instead 8 hours before doors Thrice shared the unfortunate news that a member of their crew had a positive test and they’d have to miss the show. While my feelings are really the least important aspect of their diagnosis and I sincerely hope everyone has a full, speedy and easy recovery, I was certainly bummed by the news. As every goofy member of middle management loves to say, though, “it is what it is,” and I was going to show up, cross my fingers and hope for the best. 

Luckily for those of us there, we got it. 

Openers, Anxious put out one of the greatest records of 2022, so far.  This young group was clearly weaned on the early aughts melodoc hardcore scene. Their lullabies appear to have beenthe soundtrack from Steven’s Untitled Rock Show. A delicious multi-layered burrito of nostalgia, Little Green House, has burrowed its way into the cockles of my heart and made every day a little brighter (or at least bouncier). Their live set did not disappoint.

Showing big The Movielife vibes, the band battled through the initial shock and disappointment in the crowd. For the first few cuts of their 35 minute set, the crowd was flat and deflated, an unfortunate side effect of a co-headliner dropping off. The performance deserved so much more energy than the crowd was prepared to give. Fortunately, Anxious didn’t give up. With enough energy to power a transcontinental locomotive, the five-piece bopped and two-stepped their way into a frenzy. The sweat was raining down vocalist Grady Allen’s skull within moments, a testament to his passion and charisma.

Blasting through some of my personal favorites, “More Than A Letter,” “Speechless” and “Afternoon,” the Connecticut quintet kept chipping away at the collective dejection and reinflated the crowd.  By the time the band tore into set closer “Growing Up Song” we were all doing that not-quite-sexy, sorta-unison pogo bounce and bop, the universal scene sign for a good damn show. 

The electric set by Anxious combined with the speedy breakdown and set up by Bayside made sure the crowd’s energy maintained, leaving no down time to dwell on the sorely missed Thrice, Bayside guaranteed a strong energy coming out the gate. Gracing the stage with the backing track of Belinda Carlisle‘s “Heaven in is a Place on Earth,” came with otherworldly precision. As has always been Bayside’s way, they take unfortunate and tragic events and turn that shit into a beautiful tapestry.

With a halo formed by the back-lit spotlights, Anthony Ranieri opened the set with 2007’s “Walking Wounded,” from the album of the same name, before the lights came up to expose the other members of the quartet. The band dropped the hammer with a set list full of fan favorites spanning their two-decade long career. At one point even going from the month old single “Strangest Faces” to “Masterpiece” the lead single off their 2004 debut full-length Sirens and Condolences. 

After a series of fan favorites such as “Interrobang,” “Tortures of the Damned” amd “Sick Sick Sick” the band slowed it down a bit, but not long enough for the crowd to lose its groove. With endorphins pulsing through the Starland faithful, Bayside buckled down with emotional morbidity swaddled in their special blend of rock and had voices being lost and peace being found. 

The set closed out with little chatter as the band ripped into some of their most popular tracks off a variety of albums. They played “Mary” off 2016’s Vacancy, 2007’s “Duality” from The Walking Wounded and then “Phone Calls From Poland” off Sirens and Condolences before visiting the always popular self-titled album from 2005 with “Montauk” and closer “Blame it on Bad Luck.”

At this point the set had already gone beyond an hour and nobody would’ve blamed Bayside for calling it a night, nobody except perhaps Bayside, who were determined to make up for the disappointing absence of Thrice. They came back with a killer encore starting off with “I’ve Been Dead All Day” before tearing the roof off with a bombastic performance of “Devotion and Desire,” a song whose title spoke volumes for the energy in that room for the band’s 75 minute set. 

Bayside may never have hit it big with mainstream radio success, but they have earned an ever-growing omni-present and fervently loyal fan base that gladly follows Ranieri and crew’s lyrical walk to hell and back, and it is the sets like this that form the unbreakable bond.

Bayside and Anxious pulled up to insurmountable odds and planted a flag atop the hill they pushed the boulder up. I’ve been to plenty of shows where fans come in full of hope and leave disappointed, but this is the first and only time I’ve seen a crowd enter deflated and leave floating among the clouds.

After all was said and done, the crowd was spent, and both bands gave everything they had. Even with the unfortunate absence of Thrice, I can without question recommend this tour for every one of us who miss the energy and heart that carried our scene in the mid-00s.