Andy Gapin

I wanted to get something up about the show sooner, but I haven’t had a chance. I’m going to completely ignore the openers and get to the point, The Lawrence Arms are one of the best bands playing right now. An hour and forty-five minutes was a long time for a punk band to play, but I’m going to be honest, I could have done a lot more. A LOT MORE. Hell, they could have played the set twice and I would have been giddy as hell about it.

The band came out on stage with a nice rockstarry entrance, but after that, it was clear that they were just three dudes having one of the best nights of their collective life. You could tell that they couldn’t take themselves too seriously if they tried. They tore through thirty songs with enough talking to break it up a bit and engage the audience, but never enough for you to want them to shut up. I’ve never seen a band get through that many songs that quickly. They were on a mission.

They played songs from all over their catalog, just like they promised they would. They kept things slightly more to the last couple records, but I’m not complaining about that. They played some stuff that they don’t play often, like A Wishful Puppeteer–they had only played this once before–and left out only a couple other songs I would have liked to hear. I’m starting to accept that I’ll never get to see them play Drunk Mouth Kitchen Smile.

They even had Neil sing a song. According to Brendan, Turnstiles is the best Lawrence Arms song “for your money” and I have to agree, in recent months, it has shot right up to the top of my list.

This was a fun set and seeing this band in Chicago was amazing. I love these guys. This was show number 1000 for them and I swear, the next 1000 better be made up of at least 1001 on the East Coast.

Here’s a list of the songs they played. It’s not in order, but you get the idea…

• An Evening of Extraordinary Circumstance
• The North Side of the L&L and Any Number of Crappy Apartments
• Uptown Free Radio
• Smokestacks
• 16 Hours
• Turnstiles
• Light Breathing
• 106 South
• Nebraska
• Quincentuple Your Money
• 100 Resolutions
• Hey, What Time is “Pensacola: Wings of Gold” On, Anyway?
• Your Gravest Words
• Boatless Booze Cruise
• Brickwall Views
• Presenting: The Dancing Machine
• Necrotism: Decanting the Insalubrious
• Intransit
• Raw and Searing Flesh
• On With The Show
• Alert The Audience
• Chapter 13: The Hero Appears
• The Ramblin’ Boys of Pleasure
• A Wishful Puppeteer
• The Disaster March
• Cut it Up
• Great Lakes/Great Escapes
  
• Recovering the Opposable Thumb
• Are You There, Margaret? It’s Me, God
• Lose Your Illusion 1
• Like a Record Player

PS: Chicago really is the best city ever. Every time I go there, I love it more and more. Friendly people, amazing food, awesome vibe, tons of great music.