ACL Review: Brand New

Waiting for Long Island fourpiece Brand New – the post-emo hardcore act that changed my life – I hoped for the camaraderie of fans who also spent their childhood scribbling lyrics in school notebooks. That didn’t look promising as they launched into opener “Sowing Season (Yeah),” a sulky 2006 cut that would’ve taken a true believer to appreciate.

My heart sank.

Screaming into a flower-adorned mic, Jesse Lacey stormed without break through another The Devil and God Are Raging Inside of Me track, “Millstone.” Afterward, “At the Bottom,” from 2009’s Daisy, also received cool reception from the crowd. There wasn’t much love for the two albums in the latter half of the band’s 14-year career.

That’s when the set list turned.

Although an energetic version of “I Will Play My Game Beneath the Spin Light” sparked some recognition, it was the familiar staccato riff of fellow Déjà Entendu track “Sic Transit Gloria ... Glory Fades” that finally transformed a listless mass into heart-in-hands fans shouting the chorus without abandon: “Die young and save yourselves!” From there, essentials such as “The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows” and 2006 runaway hit “Jesus Christ” buoyed the crowd’s nostalgia-fueled sing-along.

By the end, my concern about Brand New’s impact on my fellow ACLers had faded. Déjà Entendu’s “Okay I Believe You, but My Tommy Gun Don’t” was prophetic: “I hope this song starts a craze/ The kind of song that ignites the airwaves/ The kind of song that makes people glad to be where they are, with whoever they’re there with.”

I was.