by Matt Kelchner
On Saturday night, mewithoutYou and Touche Amore brought their co-headlining tour to Union Transfer for a sold out show. Joining them on this leg of the tour were Caravels and Seahaven. While it was not the final show of the tour, Saturday marked as a homecoming for locals mewithoutYou, who proudly showed why they deserved to headline that night.
The two openers, Caravels and Seahaven, showcased some of the promising, young talent coming up through the punk scene. Caravels started things off for the night. Their mix of post-harcore and screamo was reminiscent of older bands like Thursday. While their set was short, they left their mark on the nearly full room.
Following Caravels was Los Angeles’ Seahaven. While Caravels’ set was an introduction to themselves for many of the fans, Seahaven was well known throughout the crowd. The mood was set as the band brought the lights down to just a subtle glow. Heavily influenced by the likes of Brand New, the band worked their way through the night with the help of the crowd singing along to every song. Crowd favorites included “Sleep Alone” and “Silhouette (Latin Skin)”. After the band played “It’s Over”, one of their older songs, every member except singer/guitarist Kyle Soto left. Soto finished with a solo rendition of “Honey Bee”, a heartfelt and emotional song to end the night.
As Touche Amore began setting the stage for what would be the most blistering, intense set, I noticed that the drummer chose only to wear shorts for the night. Before the band played, I found that the a little odd. Once they were a few songs in, I quickly found out way. With most hardcore bands, the raw energy and emotion captured on their studio albums is typically outmatched by their live performances. Saying this would be an understatement for Touche Amore. As much as they put out, the fans gave right back to them.
One by one, (and sometimes two by two), fans drifted their way up to the stage on the hands and heads of the rest of the crowd. Singer Jeremy Bolm shared his mic with anyone eager to sing along. The lyrics to every song rang out loud enough from the audience that Bolm could have sang the entire night without his mic. And at several times he did. Their set, over 20 songs long, was a collection that featured favorites from each album. As the band was playing the title track from their latest album, Is Survived By, Jon Simmons of Balance and Composure quietly walked out on stage to assist Bolm in singing. As their night came to a close Bolm dedicated their final song to fellow tourmates mewithoutYou, explaining to the crowd the level of importance that they saw in the veteran band.
mewithoutYou needs little introduction at this point in their careers, especially when in Philadelphia. With a deep catalog and a wide range of musical styles, Saturday night had a great mix of everything. Whether it was from their older days of post-hardcore or their blend of indie-folk, there was no dull point during the band’s night. While they played a number of songs from their most recent release, 2012’s Ten Stories, they also reached as far back as [A→B] Life and Catch For Us The Foxes.
While every song was a crowd favorite as the entire room of Union Transfer cheered and sang along, highlights included “February, 1878”, “In A Sweater Poorly Knit” and “Bullet To Binary”. They ended their set with “All Circles” only to return to the stage for a five song encore. Beginning with “Orange Spider” and “Wolf Am I! (And Shadow)” and ending with only Aaron Weiss on stage singing “Brownish Spider”, the encore was a treat for fans of their older material. The highlight of the encore was their post-hardcore gem, “January, 1979”, sandwiched right in the middle.
Towards the end of Touche Amore’s set, singer Jeremy Bolm explained to the crowd just how lucky they are to live in a state with so many amazing bands. He went on to say that maybe it comes from something in the water. Whatever it is, mewithoutYou proved Bolm’s statement true Saturday night.
