The Commodore Ballroom - Thursday, January 17, 2013
It had been a lot of years since I had last been inside the hallowed walls of the Commodore and even more since I’d last seen New York City post hardcore veterans Quicksand, who reunited in 2012 and are currently on their first North American tour in fifteen years.
I walked in a couple songs into openers Title Fight, the current indy hype band, who slowly got people up front and onto the dance floor as they made their way through their set of poppy post hardcore mixed with droning shoegaze, concentrating on songs from their 2012 LP Floral Green, which was not so coincidentally produced by Quicksand vocalist/guitarist Walter Schreifels. While I did like their more upbeat faster parts, their slow stuff just put me to sleep and although the Pennsylvania four piece definitely won the crowd over. Myself, being mainly an old school hardcore/punk/metal guy, they weren't my cup of tea, but I can see why loads of people are getting into them.
After their Conan The Barbarian intro, Schreifels and the rest of the original lineup of: Tom “TC3” Capone, Sergio Vega and Alan Cage took the stage to the approval of the now packed club. Playing their hits in almost chronological order from throughout their career. With the addition of a couple B-sides, an unreleased song and a cover tune provided a well rounded set list. Shreifels wasn't quite as intense as he was vocally in the nineties, but they were tight, heavy, sounding great and kept the audience of mostly thirty plus year olds rocking and grooving. Hopefully Quicksand will be able to keep things together this time around and write/release some new music to blow away the countless bands that they've influenced so heavily. Just once again.
- Jason Kolins
