On a beautiful Thursday night in Boston fans were eager to witness a tour they thought might never happen. Alexisonfire has not been in Massachusetts since 2010 so this was a treat for the fans. Concert goers gathered in the Roadrunner venue in Boston, MA just next to the Bruins and the Celtics practice arenas. If you have not heard of this venue it is because it is the newest live music venue in Boston just opening in the spring of 2022. It is extremely clean, efficiently run and a wonderful new addition to Boston. Clearly word has gotten around to New Englanders because this was a packed house.
Interesting fact about the opening band for this show, The Fall of Troy, is that they were featured on Guitar Hero III! They started off the evening with a short, but very fun set. The lead singer, Thomas Erak, threatened to only play Weezer covers and after the band’s amazing rendition of “My Name is Jonas” the crowd was happy to hear more. We got to hear some of their own material “Mouths Like Sidewinder Missiles” and the appropriately hard-hitting song “Sledgehammer”. The drummer, Andrew Forsman, brought his son out on stage for a few songs which was the real show stealer. Cute kid in headphones at a rock show is always a win!
Alexisonfire is a Canadian post-hardcore band that many consider to be the foundation of post-hardcore. Although they are pioneers, they decided to officially break up as a band 2011 and haven’t put out an album since 2009’s Old Crows/Young Cardinals. Now in 2022 that has all changed. In June 2022 Alexisonfire put out some long-awaited new music on the full-length album Otherness.
In their 17-song setlist — that included two very well-deserved encores — Alexisonfire played a perfect mix of their fan favorite older tracks and lots of their newer music. One of the tracks that fans noticeably went wild for was “Old Crows”. With a crowd of mostly 30 & 40-somethings the lyrics “We are not the kids we used to be. Stop wishing for yesterday” really seemed to resonate. Many of the fans jamming out to this song most likely never got the chance to hear this song played live. If any of them were lucky enough they might have heard it played live once in 2010, the last time Alexisonfire played in Massachusetts. Other fan favorites were “This Could Be Anywhere In The World” from their 2006 album Crisis and the newer hit “Sweet Dreams of Otherness”. Fans hope this is the start of the next generation of Alexisonfire and that they can see them back in New England again very soon!
Alexisonfire
Website Facebook Twitter Instagram