Live Review: Midtown – “Resurrection Tour”

Starland Ballroom- 03 Dec 2022

I hope this never changes, because I love it just the same

Nostalgia was in overdrive as Midtown was set to take the stage at Starland Ballroom for the hometown stop on their Reunion Tour.  I wasn’t able to get in for night 1, and I’m sure every moment from Friday night was wonderful. Doesn’t matter though, because Saturday was better, thanks not only to Midtown, nor to the crowd but also to the throwback-heavy openers: No and local legends Lanemeyer.

Opening act No brought their own brand of nostalgia as they came with all the ’92 Seattle vibes without the flannel or needles. Opening their set with an apology for not being NJ legends, Paulson showed the band wasn’t out of its element in this time capsule. The 3 piece played with fantastic precision. I really wish they were more my thing, but it was the wrong era of nostalgia for my mood this evening. It’s a damn shame, too, because the band sounded fantastic, my headspace just wasn’t where it needed to be for these guys.  I was ready for that 90s/00s era NJ pop-punk I’d fallen in love with in high school.

Lucky for me, Lanemeyer was the second supporting act. The North Jersey quartet may not be someone you recognize by name, but they should be. With only two proper releases under their belt, the four-piece were a beloved part of the scene thanks to their sophomoric and self-deprecating stage personas and bombastic melodies.  Soaring along on dual vocals, Lanemeyer were ubiquitous to the VFW scene in the area but a breakup came just as contemporaries like Armor For Sleep, Senses Fail or Midtown led the wave of NJPP acts into the national spotlight.  

Having played together only a handful of times since their breakup in 2001, there was not a step was lost as the band ripped through crowd favorites from their two albums Stories From The Big Screen and If There’s a Will, There’s Still Nothing (both available here).  Shouting along to each song, the crowd showed the band how much they were missed.  The joy on the band’s faces as they owned the stage for nearly 40 minutes, proved the appreciation and gratitude was mutual.

Music will always be the ultimate time machine, transporting us back to a moment that can only be recaptured with the right soundtrack.  Lanemeyer provided that soundtrack tonight.  As the band closed with “What a Shitty Summer,” the catharsis from both sides of the stage was palpable as the room reverberated with the finger-pointing, arm pumping, sing-along of “God, I miss you and God, I miss this place.”  The band walked off the stage, leaving the audience with a staunch reminder of why the band was and will always remain so well-loved.

Finally Midtown burst onto the stage, with an energy you don’t oft-expect from a band after 20 years.  Vocalist Gabe Saporta jumped and danced across the stage at a feverish pace, hopping back and forth between the stage and the crowd. I’ve seen Midtown more times than I can count, including being at the one and only show where the band performed as their 80’s glam-rock alter-egos Lords of Semen, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen energy from the quartet like I saw tonight.  Hot Water Music’s Jason Black took on bass duties to allow Saporta more freedom to shimmy, shake, prance and bounce across every board in the Sayreville establishment.

With barely a breath between songs, the band slammed their way through a set, with an even distribution of tracks across the band’s three full-length records.  The band dove deep, playing “Recluse” for what they said was the first time since 2000, the band got silly, playing “Another Boy” 5 times over three different spots in the setlist, including a twangy rendition sung by guitarist Heath Saraceno.  The thing that set Midtown apart back then is what continues to set them apart in their reunion and that is the way they do not operate as individual members, whether it’s Saporta, Saraceno or Tyler Rann providing lead vocals, they operate as a single unit.  When you combine their melodies to Rob Hitt’s rhythmic beats and crashes, and the crowd’s chorales, the band becomes so much more than the sum of its parts.

The band let the audience behind the curtains a little bit as their were guest appearances from the band’s children, nieces and nephews led into a vegan cake brought out as an early celebration of Hitt’s birthday.

The crowd swooned and swayed as the best harmonies from Midtown’s oeuvre blared through the stacks. “Like A Movie,” “Is It Me? Is It True,” and “Frayed Ends” cut like knives through the memories and lyrics that spelt out our post-adolescent angst. When the proper set closed with “Give It Up” its hard to believe any single person in the venue had any energy left, but the applause and pleading for encodes led to a brief interpolation of a Modern English cover, my personal favorite “Come On,” a final playthrough of “Another Boy,” and closed out with “A Faulty Foundation” leaving the crowd spent, sweaty, exhausted and satiated.

Some of us may have known how much they needed this show, I didn’t.  It was a cathartic experience.  A triumphant return among the trials and tribulations of the 2020s.  When you’re feeling nothing, something’s gotta make you feel, and these bands, this night, they brought out all of the feelings.