Laura Jane Grace Delivers an Astonishing 42-Song Set at Crossroads
There are nights that begin with doors at 6:30, the show at 8:00, and two support acts before the headliner, leaving a three-hour drive home afterward and those of a certain age demographic in a frightful state. But these particular details were of no concern this past Saturday as the concert was at Crossroads in Garwood, NJ, where Laura Jane Grace performed an astonishing 42-song set supported by Brendan Kelly of The Lawrence Arms and Tiff Hannay of Rodeo Boys.
First, a note about Crossroads. This is a venue that seems to bring out the best from its performers. For performers and patrons alike it feels like TV’s “Cheers” of the concert circuit, a place where many patrons are repeat customers, who know Alf at the door and Andy who’s running the place, where the crowd on any night could consist of an 18-year-old pierced teen standing side-by-side with a Wall Street banker-type and everything is copacetic.
On this particular night, it was a stripped-down acoustic show by all three performers, but Crossroads also handled full-band shows with equal aplomb. Crossroads held a comfortable 200 patrons, and those up against the stage could often be found bantering with the performers in a much looser atmosphere than what could be found elsewhere.
It was no wonder that artists such as Frank Turner, Dave Hause, Chuck Ragan, The Lawrence Arms, The Pietasters, Southside Johnny, The Bouncing Souls, Leon Redbone, Richie Havens, George Benson, The Menzingers and countless others had made appearances there. It was a special kind of place.
At 8:00 p.m., Tiff Hannay of Rodeo Boys took the stage for a set that lasted around 40 minutes. They played to a receptive crowd, many up front singing along.
One of the tough things about photographing an acoustic show was the lack of dynamic movement, dancing, prancing, jumping… you get the picture. Tiff, on the other hand, offered the audience, and a photographer, a series of very expressive facial expressions that made capturing them less of a challenge than one might otherwise encounter. They put on a great set with an appeal to please help reduce her load of merch for the plane ride home. They were a great opening act for the night’s lineup.
Brendan Kelly of The Lawrence Arms was up next. His 12-song set was a mix from The Lawrence Arms and his own project, Brendan Kelly and The Wandering Birds, and included an as-yet-unnamed new TLA song.
His manner was cool and amusing, with a lot of joking with the crowd. He had appeared at Crossroads before as a solo act and with TLA.
Just before singing “Dance of the Doomed”, and in true New Jersey mobster fashion, Kelly pulled out what appeared to be a pistol, only to reveal it as a lighter with a cigarette in the chamber. Try getting THAT through airport security, Mr. Kelly!
Around 9:45, Laura Jane Grace took the stage. There was something that felt immediately different from when she had last been seen in Harrisburg, PA, at the end of April, a different type of energy.
Although she had long been sober, she ever-so-briefly commented that she was working on being less angry, or something to that effect, and to the eye, this change looked very, very good on her. On stage, she seemed happy, joking with some of the patrons up front and smiling all night.
Her opening comments indicated that she had prepared a setlist of 38 songs, which was now down to 37 since Tiff had covered “White Crosses” in her set, yet astonishingly managed 42 songs during her set.
There was a testing out of some new songs, “Angry Boy Songs”, “At The Movies” and “Crashing Out”, some classic Against Me! songs including “Black Me Out”, “True Trans Soul Rebel” and “Pints of Guinness Make You Strong”, and, of course, a wide assortment of LJG songs from “Anna Is a Stool Pigeon” to “Your God (God’s Dick).”
One highlight of the evening was the introduction of the “Chicken Puppet”, a piece of leftover chicken they had painstakingly wrapped securely over and over in gleaming aluminum foil and travelled with as their tour mascot.
All told, the entire evening was a grand slam, a touchdown, a 3-pointer from mid-court. Three punkers stripped down to the bare essence of their music. Them, their guitars and a microphone. No explosions, no theatrics. It was perfect.
To quote the young lady standing next to the photographer for most of the evening, “That was the first time I’d gotten to see her and for a first show I couldn’t have asked for better.”
