By Colette Custin & Chris Bevard
New Jersey’s Thursday returned to Chicago on Tuesday night to a welcoming crowd of apparent regulars for the 20th anniversary of War All the Time, the band’s much celebrated third album.
“This is like the sixth time we’ve been here in the last three years,” said frontman Geoff Rickly, “thanks for coming back!” The quartet spent the next hour blazing through War in its entirety, with singles “For the Workforce, Drowning” and “Signals Over the Air” sending the packed Concord into a frenzy. Rickly remains one of the most compelling frontmen of the 2000s era of punk-pop, emo, and hardcore, and the band’s most recent return to the live scene is well- timed given the resurgence of interest in touring acts from those halcyon days of the genre.
New Yorkers Rival Schools delivered an absolutely stunning set of their special blend of punk and hardcore, tearing through nearly all of 2001’s United by Fate. Schools’ sound called to mind the best elements of numerous alt-rock acts like Failure and The Smashing Pumpkins, offering razor-sharp hooks amid creative arrangements that kept things interesting for cuts like “A Parts for B Actors” and “Everything Has Its Point,” and frontman/guitarist Walter Schreifels was clearly having a blast. Let’s hope their 2022 reunion sticks—if Tuesday’s set was anything to go on, the band is firing on all cylinders.
Show openers Many Eyes, a New Jersey-based quartet led by former Every Time I Die frontman Keith Buckley, delivered a nicely polished set of crunchy, aggressive tunes that will, by Buckley’s admission, end up on a record in the near future. “We don’t have a record out yet,” Buckley noted early in the set. “But with guys turning out like this, we’ll get on it.” With just a few dates behind them on this tour, keep your own eyes on Many Eyes—odds are, they’ll be back sooner than later in support of what’s sure to be a stellar album.
Thursday – Concord Music Hall, Chicago, IL, 1/30/24 (setlist)
For the Workforce, Drowning Between Rupture and Rapture Division St.
Signals Over the Air
Marches and Maneuvers
Asleep in the Chapel
This Song Brought to You by a Falling Bomb Steps Ascending
War All the Time
M. Shepard
Tomorrow I’ll Be You
Cross Out the Eyes
Understanding in a Car Crash
Turnpike Divides
Photo Gallery : Rival Schools – Concord Music Hall (01.30.2024)
