Concert Review: Alkaline Trio Perform Tight, Professional Emo-Punk Show at Agora

Midway through Alkaline Trio’s concert in Cleveland on Friday, frontman and guitarist Matt Skiba said he didn’t think everyone would make it after the past few years, let alone get 2,000 people in a room together for a concert.

“Covid happened, I thought it was curtains for all of us,” Skiba told the crowd at the Agora Theatre. “I’m really glad it wasn’t. This song is called ‘Armageddon.’”

The fans, of course, roared. And while his statement came well into the band’s 20-song show, it set the tone for the night. The band, firmly in its third decade and armed with a catalog of emo and goth-tinged punk rock, seemed happy to be playing and basked in the adoration of the sold-out audience.

It responded with a tight, professional 80-minute concert, one put on by middle-aged men playing a type of music frequently played by people half their age. They even dressed up for the occasion by wearing suits (though new drummer Atom Willard was forgiven for not wearing a sport coat).

Touring behind its 10th studio album Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs, released in January, the trio opened with new song “Hot for Preacher” and played a healthy heaping of the record. The new music has the occasional moody and metallic touches, like on “Bad Time,” but never strays far from punk.

The vibe put off by the members was that they are in a good spot. While the band never went away (Alkaline Trio last played the same venue six years ago), Skiba’s time over the past decade as the guitarist and co-lead singer of blink-182 gave him less bandwidth to put out material with his main project. Now, with original blink-182 singer Tom DeLonge back in that fold, it appears Skiba’s determined to focus on his own trio.

Still, the years with blink-182 refined Skiba’s performing skills. He was in fine voice and showed that the smallest gestures can be as effective as wildly jumping around. This isn’t a pogoing performer, but he was no less energetic as he moved across the Agora stage. Bassist Dan Andriano was no slouch either as he took the helm for several songs, and Willard showed he’d earned his spot in the band by bashing the skins as hard as he could.

The rabid audience sang along to every song, new and old. They reacted loudest for earlier tunes like “Fuck You Aurora,” “Mr. Chainsaw” and show closer “Radio.”

If there was one criticism, it’s that the band should trust its audience more and play more of its new material. More than half the songs on Friday came from 2003 and earlier. But that’s a minor quibble, as Alkaline Trio met its marks throughout the show.

Hardcore band Drug Church opened with a high-energy 40-minute set. Led by vocalist/growler/pseudo-crooner Patrick Kindlon, the Albany, New York-hailing band doled out one pummeling metal-influenced punk song after another. Kindlon, seemingly aware of his duties to hype up the crowd for the main act, consistently implored the audience to mosh.


“Alkaline Trio is a punk band,” he said, “so treat it like a punk show and move your fucking asses.”

Setlist
1. Hot for Preacher
2. We’ve Had Enough
3. Take Lots with Alcohol
4. Bad Time
5. Versions of You
6. Mr. Chainsaw
7. One Hundred Stories
8. Calling All Skeletons
9. Cringe
10. Break
11. Armageddon
12. Fuck You Aurora
13. Mercy Me
14. Warbrain
15. Crawl
16. Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs
17. Stupid Kid
18. Private Eye
19. Time to Waste
Encore:
20. Radio

Eric Heisig is a freelance writer in Cleveland. He can be reached at [email protected].

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