Touring in support of their seventh studio album, Due to ignorance, I’d designated mewithoutYou as more melodic post-hardcore than Touche Amore-style screaming and heavy guitars. Monday night, mewithoutYou proved they move effortlessly in and out of both styles, combining the forms into a unique bloom of beauty and aggression. No surprise either that Touche Amore vocalist Jeremy Bolm was upstairs in the VIP area nodding his head with approval throughout the set. Other highlights throughout the set included the contemplative “Mexican War Streets,” the satisfying crunch of “Julia (or, ‘Holy to the LORD’ on the Bells of Horses),” the punk anthem “Torches Together,” and the stomping “Red Cow.” To end the show, Weiss dove into the crowd as an audience member took advantage of an unused mic on stage and joined him in the singing. The band didn’t even seem to mind, which I think is a decidedly post-punk characteristic. Call it community engagement. Opener Smidley, the solo project of Foxing frontman Conor Murphy, re-tuned the songs off their self-titled 2017 album to match the energy of mewithoutYou, turning the rock jams into heavy affairs as Murphy chose to scream suspiciously more often than on the record. It was the right choice, the audience was into it, and it was clear that a good portion of us were already familiar with Smidley (and Foxing). At one point, Murphy called LA the “good New York.” From that point forward, both bands really couldn’t mess this up. And they didn’t. Call it whatever you will. mewithoutYou Set List:
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