Review: American Football Delivers Cinematic Emo to Sold-Out Beachland Ballroom

Of the myriad musical projects the Kinsellas have a hand in, American Football has always been one of the best and most influential.

And that’s saying something, given the Illinois family’s involvement in Cap’n Jazz, Joan of Arc, Owen and so many others. There’s just something about American Football that clicked. The band’s 1999 album is an indie rock staple, and its 2016 and 2019 albums only built upon that towering achievement.

The band also clicked onstage Monday night in front of a sold-out Beachland Ballroom.

(At this point I’m sure I’m speaking gibberish for many readers. My hope, however, is to send at least a few of you down a rabbit hole and find a few musical treasures along the way.)

As for Monday night’s concert, the quartet (which ballooned to having as many as seven members for some songs) of Mike Kinsella, Nate Kinsella, Steve Holmes and Steve Lamos delivered 90 minutes of cinematic emo rock. Well, 100 minutes if you count the 10-minute break everyone took when the power went out.

The band isn’t showy and neither is its stage show. Instead, the members demanded, in their own way, that the audience focus on their intricate and detail-laden music as they focused on their playing.

The night started with a long introduction to “Stay Home,” with Mike Kinsella and Holmes’ interweaving guitars setting the mood before Lamos’ drums kicked in. From there the music was aggressive, majestic, trance-y or lush, depending on the mood.

There were xylophones on “Silhouettes” and female backing vocals on “Uncomfortably Numb.” Nate Kinsella’s bass on “Give Me the Gun” had a sinister tone. Lamos even contributed a bit of trumpet on a few songs.

But all of those were in service of the powerhouse playing of Mike Kinsella and Holmes. Even Mike Kinsella’s vocals were relatively low in the mix.

Holmes provided a steady presence through his chiming patterns while Kinsella was able to explore a bit or, in the case of the song “Honestly?”, provide some major rock riffs.

Thankfully, the band eschewed the “going offstage for the encore” bit (which Mike Kinsella said was because of the “accidental encore” that was the power outage) and went right into its planned encore. It closed the show with a rousing “Never Meant,” and many in the crowd sang along.

Like so many of the band’s songs, it has lost none of its power after 24 years. May its stature, as well as that of the band, continue to grow.

Setlist
1. Stay Home
2. The One with the Wurlitzer
3. I Can’t Feel You
4. Silhouettes
5. Uncomfortably Numb
6. Heir Apparent
7. My Instincts Are the Enemy
8. Every Wave to Ever Rise
9. Give Me the Gun
10. I Need a Drink (Or Two or Three) (stopped due to power outage and finished after it was restored)
11. Home Is Where the Haunt Is
12. Honestly?
13. You Know I Should Be Leaving Soon
14. I’ll See You When We’re Both Not So Emotional
15. Never Meant

Eric Heisig is a freelance writer in Cleveland. He can be reached at eheisig@gmail.com.

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