Saturday Night: Sunny Day Real Estate at the House of Blues, Anaheim; October 10, 2009.
Better Than: The Creed reunion.
The Promise Ring, The Get Up Kids, and Sunny Day Real Estate all made
waves in the early '90s with their heart-on-a-sleeve lyrics and
alternating quiet/loud guitars to be unfairly tagged as “emo.” While
bands like Fall Out Boy have sullied the genre, it is good to see
these bands come back on the scene and reclaim their glory.
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I wasn't surprised to find myself at the House of Blues in Anaheim with a
bunch of people in their mid-to-late-thirties singing every word to
“Friday,” as Sunny Day Real Estate immediately impressed me with their renewed musical chemistry.
They didn't pull any punches when launching into roaring anthem
“Seven”–Jeremy Enigk was slashing out the power chords, while Dan Hoerner was interweaving his melodic guitar lines. Nate Mendel and William Goldsmith were interlocked as a rhythm
section, one that made them formidable enough to be drafted into the early
incarnation of Foo Fighters.
“Song About An Angel” had a huge crowd assist on vocals that provoked
Dan to reveal that he enjoyed hearing everyone's voices. Sunny Day Real
Estate sounded even heavier and chunkier compared to how I remembered
them. “Guitars N Video Games” adhered to the quiet then loud
formula with Nate flourishing the song with some extra high bass notes
while playing in the pocket.
Another cause for excitement was their unveiling of a new song which
started with some finger-picked guitars before shifting gears into
overdriven guitar heaven. After a handful of songs, I surmised that
Sunny Day Real Estate's eclipses some of their contemporaries with a
musical catalog still sounds fresh.
The encore of “In Circles” was another festive sing-along that provoked
Dan comment that, “Sometimes thank you isn't enough” after the
completion of the song. “J'nuh” quickly closed out the evening that
still left a number of fans on the floor chanting and hoping for one
more song.
Dead Country from Silverlake kicked things off with rock-driven
tunes. After further investigating via myspace, they are apparently
working with Dave Grohl on recording some material. I likes their song
“Carolina”.
The Jealous Sound also provided support, with a handful of melodic
tunes. They will be continuing their own reunion this Monday at Chain Reaction.
Personal Bias: I am sucker for bands that reunite. Especially if they were really good.
By The Way: Sub Pop recently released the remastered versions of Sunny
Day Real Estate's first two albums “Diary” and “LP2” with bonus tracks.
Sunny Day Real Estate setlist at the House of Blues Anaheim (10/10/09)
“Friday”
“Seven”
“Shadows”
“Song About An Angel”
“Grendel”
“Guitar N Video Games”
“Iscarabaid”
“Theo B”
“5/4”
“**New Song**”
“48”
“Sometimes”
Encore
“In Circles”
“J'nuh”
