The Trocadero Theatre
Philadelphia, PA
3/11/10
This is not the Alkaline Trio I remember. And I’m pretty sure that’s not a good thing.
The boozy, Chicago skater punks of old are gone, replaced by black clad, tightly fitted skinny boys who play anthems to tweens and over-privileged emo kids (seriously, if I see one more 15 year old with a Blackberry Curve I’m going to punch them in the soul). The band’s gear is massive and towering, covered in strange “7” logos and their trademark “skull-heart” symbols. Drummer Derek Grant’s kit is now a grotesque, silver trimmed monstrosity; something fit more for an 80s glam-rock band like Poison or Quiet Riot.
But they still sound pretty good. When they play the “old stuff”, that is.
This Addiction, their latest album, is their first for Epitaph Records, following a pair of major label duds that consisted of slickly produced “pop” songs. The rumor has been that This Addiction and the tour to supporting it are an attempt to reconnect with their die-hard fan base, of which there were many at the Troc. In fact, the late twenties, early thirties punks who had rabidly followed the band’s long, underground career could be found in the upper balcony and on the edge of the dance floor, warily eyeing the high school crowd who had latched on during the “bad years”. I have a feeling that this was not the Alkaline Trio they remembered either.
Surprisingly, This Addiction did not dominate the set list that night. The band played a varied collection of old favorites and cuts from their major label offerings, as if trying to appease both crowds who were in attendance. And it was funny to watch the reactions of each when the band would jump back and forth. The die hards would know every word to such Matt Skiba classics as “Radio”, “Fuck You Aurora” and “Mr. Chainsaw” while the tweens were confounded by the sound. Punk rock? No American Idiot style stadium rock? What the hell was this? And vice versa. Looks of pained disinterest painted the old punks’ faces as such drivel as “Armageddon” and “Time to Waste” was blared into their faces.
The tracks off of This Addiction actually seem to try and blend the two styles, and do so to mixed results. The band used the title track single to open the show and the response was mixed, while a Dan Andriano sung “Dine, Dine My Darling” received a raucous reception. I’m not a fan of the album itself, however the live renditions were solid enough to not make me want to lump them in with the Epic dreck.
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