Alkaline Trio just dropped their tenth studio album, Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs and have taken to the road with Drug Church and Worriers to share the new tunes live. A dreary Wednesday night found the Trio returning to a bustling Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco for what would prove to be a welcome return for the fans.
The show inexplicably kicked off early with Worriers taking the stage at 7:25 PM and charging through their 30-minute set. A quick turnover meant Drug Church was already rolling by 10 past 8. Clearly embracing their role of warming up the crowd, frontman Patrick Kindlon—aka the calmest singer in hardcore—proceeded to instruct the crowd and security in detail how everything was going to go down, perfectly whipping the San Francisco crowd into a frenzy that no doubt left some wondering how Alkaline Trio could possibly follow that act.
Clearly Alkaline Trio thought they were up to the task when they invited Drug Church along, and when they casually strode onto the stage their faces didn’t bely a sense of worry that they weren’t up to the challenge. In a brilliant move, Alkaline Trio propelled off of the momentum of the previous set and launched into the heaviest tune off of Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs, “Hot for Preacher” as the crowd went sideways.
One of the most dynamic drummers in punk rock, the addition of Atom Willard brought a tremendous amount of energy to the set as vocalists Matt and Dan tended not to stray too far from their respective mic stands. But oh how the crowd ate it up, the general admission floor surging against the barricade while fueling a massive singalong and the occasional crowd surfer as they blasted through a fan-favorite selection of much of their catalog which included a surprise inclusion of lyrics from The Smiths’ “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out.”
As the evening wrapped the encore brought the most epic singalong of the night as the band closed with “Radio” which included the inevitable swell during the “I’ve got a big fat f****n’ bone to pick with you my darling” lyric. A perfect way to end an amazing night of music.
DRUG CHURCH
WORRIERS
ALKALINE TRIO SETLIST
Hot for Preacher
We’ve Had Enough
Take Lots with Alcohol
Bad Time
Versions of You
Mr. Chainsaw
One Hundred Stories
Calling All Skeletons
Cringe
Break
Armageddon
Fuck You Aurora
Mercy Me
Warbrain
Crawl
Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs
Stupid Kid
Private Eye
Time to Waste
Radio
