This has always been worth living.

(December 6, 2008 Pittsburgh PA - Club Diesel)

Me and Manchester Orchestra's live encounter is long overdue, so when I found out they were coming through Pittsburgh on a Saturday night I jumped at the opportunity. This was several months ago. Of course, since then, my expectations have increased every day. I couldn't have been happier with what I witnessed last night. If you can catch this tour still, do it.

The first band to play was All Get Out. Because of the snow we were late arriving to the venue and missed some of AGO's set. They too had a run-in with the snow - on the way to this stop they wrecked their van, fortunately escaping with minor damage. As I walked in though I was instantly impressed with their stage presence, something most opening bands really lack. I only caught two or three songs, but they were absolutely amazing. By the end of the set I was absolutely blown away. Their frontman (Nathan I believe) gave the most inspired performance I have seen as long as I can remember. Show these guys some love.

After All Get Out came Dead Confederate. I enjoyed their set, but I wasn't as into it as I would hope. They were very good though, all five members (especially the keyboardist and slide guitarist) are meant to do what they're doing. Their frontman reminded me a lot of a Bleach and pre-Bleach era Kurt Cobain on stage. This is not a bad thing. Going back and listening to their recorded stuff though, I enjoy it more than their live show. Still a fantastic band, one of the better ones I've seen lately.

Kevin Devine was the main reason I was as excited for this show as I was. There were two things I was hoping for when I found out he was playing: a. an acoustic set, or b. a set with Manchester Orchestra acting as his backing band. So I won't lie to you when I say I was disappointed to find out he was playing with the Goddamn Band. Well they proved me wrong. The setlist, as best as I can remember, was as follows:

*Carnival*
*Another Bag of Bones*
*I Could Be With Anyone*
No Time Flat
Just Stay
*Brother's Blood*

All performed full band, I'm accustomed to several of these songs (all the *new ones*) acoustic. The demos and live versions I've heard of said songs are decent, not amazing. The full band versions ARE amazing. "Carnival," one of the Myspace Demos, never stood out as a great song until I saw it last night. If this isn't one of the highlights of Kevin's new album, Brother's Blood, I can guarantee he's releasing the album of the year for 2009. "Another Bag of Bones" is significantly better full band. "I Could Be With Anyone" is better live or on the Myspace Demos than on the EP in my opinion, still a very good song. His last three songs were the best though, "Brother's Blood" being the absolute standout of the night. I'm going to have it stuck in my head until the record comes out. This video gives you an idea, but does it no justice:

I really wish Kevin would've played longer.

Following Kevin's set was Manchester Orchestra. I knew going into this that they were playing several new songs. The setlist, to the best of my memory was as follows:

New Song
New Song
New Song (Black Man)
New Song
New Song (Shake It Out)
New Song (Everything to Nothing)
Wolves At Night
Now That You're Home
I Can Barely Breathe
Where Have You Been [with "You'll only End Up Joining Them"]
*JUST ANDY HULL*:
RAGC song
Sleeper 1972

The titles in parenthesis next to the new songs are the titles that I know for sure. If these songs show what their new album will be like, Andy Hull is going through his angst-y stage, which is not a bad thing. They all sounded fantastic, but Shake It Out was fantastic. A bootleg of their Coachella set featuring "Shake It Out" and "Black Man" can be found here. After all the new songs came the ones familiar to me. "Wolves At Night," "Now That You're Home," and "I Can Barely Breathe" were all fantastic (though I think Andy forgot the words to "I Can Barely Breathe"). After this cam an extended version of "Where Have You Been" during which Kevin Devine and a couple members of his band joined Manchester on stage. Andy incorporated lyrics from Kevin's song "You'll Only End Up Joining Them" into the end, and Kevin sang the line "Cause when you look at me, I'll be digesting your legs. Cause I can hardly see what's in front of me these days and those days too" at the end. It was fantastic. At the end of the songs everyone left except for Andy. He played a Right Away, Great Captain! song for us (with fun crowd participation) and an INCREDIBLE version of "Sleeper 1972" identical to the version featured on the Let My Pride Be EP. It was the perfect way to end an amazing set.

After the show we hung out in the venue, I was trying to get my Another Bag of Bones 7" and tour poster signed. My dad actually found Kevin and snagged him, but he was extremely nice, signing my 7" and my poster. He said all the new songs they played would be on the new record. After talking to Kevin for a minute I found Chris and Robert from Manchester and they signed my poster and were very nice. Eventually they kicked us out of the venue, it turns into a nightclub immediately after shows. So me and my friend hung out outside for a while hoping to catch a few more guys from MO while my dad went and waited in the car. A guy with Dead Confederate (I'm sorry I didn't catch your name!) offered to get my poster signed. I obliged, and he took it and ended up coming back with it untouched, because the Sharpie didn't work. It was a double sided one, they used the bad end. I showed him the good end and he was gracious enough to find Andy, Jeremiah, and BLAH and they all signed my poster. He came back out and me my friend and my dad chatted with him for quite a while. He was so nice, I thank him. While we were talking Kevin ended up coming out and talking to us for a little while, he even remembered my name (I'm such a fanboy!). While we were talking with Kevin and DC's dude Andy Hull came over and talked to us. I really should have gotten a picture. They were so great. Andy confirmed that Mean Everything to Nothing will be released on vinyl, we talked about Favorite Gentlemen. After they left we figured it was time to go and headed home. I could not have asked for a better night. Everyone was extremely kind. And Dead Confederate is welcome to play my house party any time ;).

Again, please support all these artists by at least giving the music a listen, and if you like it, buy it.

http://www.myspace.com/manchesterorchestra
http://www.myspace.com/kevindevine
http://www.myspace.com/deadconfederate
http://www.myspace.com/allgetout
http://www.favoritegentlemen.com