[ATTENDED: October 22, 2021] Tigers Jaw
I had planned to check out Tigers Jaw at a small club in New Hope, but the show kept getting cancelled. All I really knew about them was a Tiny Desk Concert they did that I really liked. There were two of them and they wrote catchy poppy punk songs.
Little did I know they’ve had tumultuous line up changes since their early days in Scranton, PA.
Back in 2014 3/5 of the band left, leaving only Ben Walsh and Brianna Collins. Their 2017 album, Spin was recorded as a duo. But for I Won’t Care How You Remember Me, they added the touring bassist and drummer the band to record the album.
And for the tour, they added two more members. So this show proved to be a lot bigger, louder and dancier than I expected.
I’m a sucker for a record release show. It seems like a really big deal, although the few that I’ve been to haven’t been a very big deal at all. In fact, this album came out in March. So what made this an album release party I have no idea.
But in celebration of the record, they played it front to back. Most people there knew the album (Tigers Jaw fans seem pretty die hard, but it had been seven months). As my introduction to the album, I was really impressed by it. The choruses were hooky, the dynamic between Walsh and Collins alternating vocals was terrific. And their drummer, wow, what a beast. I couldn’t believe how hard he hit the drums.
The extra touring guys switched instruments from time to time–at one point there were four guitar on stage. It felt like a big party.
After they played the album front to back they took a break and came out and played a ton more songs. I am shocked to see that no one wrote down the songs on Setlist. I usually try to keep track of songs, but I assumed one of these maniacs would. Plus I was jostled around too much to be able to record anything. It was that kind of fun show.
I was fascinated to see that even though they headlined (and sold out) this show, they are opening for Circa Survive on an upcoming tour (of similarly sized venues). I guess I don’t quite know what their popularity level is. Whatever the case, I consider myself very lucky to have seem them headline and to play their entire album front to back (and more). It was a terrific show.
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