Highline Ballroom hosted New York City’s second night of the “Where’s the Band?” tour featuring Thrice’s Dustin Kensrue, Saves the Day’s Chris Conley, The Get Up Kids’s Matt Pryor, and Bayside’s Anthony Raneri. Though the evening played out very similar to the night before in Brooklyn at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, some set changes and the overall quality of performances made attending both nights well worth it.
Anthony Raneri
Anthony Raneri performed for about thirty minutes, sticking to the same setlist as the night before with the addition of The Walking Wounded‘s “I and I”. The Bayside frontman’s stripped-down take on Bad Religion (“Sorrow”) works incredibly well, reducing the original tempo but still capturing the song’s heart and feel. “Landing Feet First” — a song written for his now ex-wife — displayed Raneri’s songwriting prowess, highlighting what Bayside sounds like before they add on the blistering leads and pounding rhythm section.
Don’t Call Me Peanut (Bayside cover)
Sorrow (Bad Religion cover)
Blame it on Bad Luck (Bayside cover)
You Vandal (Saves the Day cover)
Landing Feet First (Bayside cover)
I and I (Bayside cover)
Meghan (Smoking Popes cover)
Matt Pryor
Matt Pryor completely switched up his setlist from the night before, tossing out his solo material and The New Amsterdams covers in favor of a set heavy on The Get Up Kids songs including “I’m a Loner Dottie, a Rebel”, which may have been the first time he’s attempted that song acoustic. Pryor still touched on Bayside and Saves the Day with “The Ghost of St. Valentine” and “Freakish, respectively; the latter again featured part of Cee-Lo Green’s “Fuck You”. Paying tribute to his The Get Up Kids bandmate James Dewees, Pryor even covered Reggie and the Full Effect. Four Minute Mile‘s “Don’t Hate Me” wrapped up the great ten-song performance.
Holiday (The Get Up Kids cover)
Overdue (The Get Up Kids cover)
I’m a Loner Dottie, a Rebel (The Get Up Kids cover)
The Ghost Of St. Valentine (Bayside cover)
Walking on a Wire (The Get Up Kids cover)
Mass. Pike (The Get Up Kids cover)
Freakish (Save The Day cover)
Action and Action (The Get Up Kids cover)
Girl, Why’d You Run Away (Reggie and the Full Effect cover)
Don’t Hate Me (The Get Up Kids cover)
Chris Conley
Putting on antlers tossed to him by a fan, Chris Conley and Pryor performed “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” together before Conley began his set of Saves the Day covers. A few setlist swaps aside, Conley performed many of the same songs from the night before. The decade-old I’m Sorry I’m Leaving EP contributed one-third of the set, leaving out only “I Melt With You”. As it did at Music Hall of Williamsburg, 1998’s “Jodie” concluded a great set from the extremely talented Conley.
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Three Miles Down (Saves the Day cover)
Take Our Cars Now! (Saves the Day cover)
I’m Sorry I’m Leaving (Saves the Day cover)
Jesse and My Whetstone (Saves the Day cover)
My Sweet Fracture (Saves the Day cover)
Let It All Go (Saves the Day cover)
The Way His Collar Falls (Saves the Day cover)
Rocks Tonic Juice Magic (Saves the Day cover)
Confidence Man (Matt Pryor cover)
Sell My Old Clothes, I’m Off To Heaven (Saves the Day cover)
When It Isn’t Like It Should Be (Saves the Day cover)
What Went Wrong (Saves the Day cover)
This Is Not An Exit (Saves the Day cover)
Hold (Saves the Day cover)
Jodie (Saves the Day cover)
Dustin Kensrue
Dustin Kensrue began with “I Knew You Before”, playing many of the same songs from the night before. ” Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” was a nice Christmas addition to the setlist, though, as was a cover of “Fairytale of New York”, a song about “Christmas Even in the drunk tank”. Kensrue’s solid acoustic take on “Wood & Wire” might have been the song’s first live performance, the Beggars cut always omitted when Kensrue has played with Thrice in the tri-state area.
A pleased Kevin Devine sat in back of the stage while Kensrue covered “Mesa, AZ”, a song from Bad Books, Devine’s collaboration with Manchester Orchestra frontman Any Hull. The German Christmas carol “Silent Night” sounded great, coming before Pryor joined Kensrue to cover “Oh My Sweet Carolina”. As they did on Saturday night in Brooklyn, Kensrue, Conley, Pryor, and Raneri all joined together to cover NOFX and Jawbreaker. “Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)” concluded the tour’s last night.
Consider the Ravens
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
This is War
Pistol
Go Tell it on the Mountain
Wood & Wire (Thrice cover)
Mesa, Arizona (Bad Books cover)
Please Come Home
Stare at the Sun (Thrice cover)
Blood and Wine
Fairytale of New York (The Pogues cover)
The Artist in the Ambulance (Thrice cover)
Down There by the Train (Tom Waits cover)
Silent Night
Oh My Sweet Carolina (Ryan Adams cover)
Linoleum (NOFX cover)
Boxcar (Jawbreaker cover)
Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home) (Darlene Lover cover)
Dustin Kensrue, Matt Pryor, Anthony Raneri, and Chris Conley
Mixing up the setlists just enough from night to night, the four prolific songwriters made attending both nights of the tour a very worthwhile experience. A plethora of old and rarely performed songs added to the nights’ charm, while the lightly-sprinkled Christmas covers fit well with the December anticipation of the holiday. With each performer so dedicated to their full-time band, finding an opportunity to tour by themselves is quite rare. If this tour should reassemble at any point in the future, don’t miss the chance to catch this remarkable collections of songwriters.
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