Just hours before their post-hiatus comeback album With You In Spirit officially came out, Balance and Composure began their headlining fall tour on Thursday night (10/3) at Warsaw in Brooklyn. They came out to a dimly lit stage, opening up with the new album’s atmospheric, introductory, vocoder-fueled track “Restless,” before the full band kicked in and Balance came in full force with the album’s next song, “Ain’t It Sweet.” It seemed like they had some technical difficulties at first that softened the immediate blow, but any sound issues were gone by the time they went into the first older song of the night, “Parachutes.” And when they did, the pit opened up, the band was drowned out by crowd singalongs, and the energy stayed on that level for the remainder of the set.
Since the album wasn’t even out yet by the time of the show, it was not surprisingly the old songs that got the crowd going the craziest, and it was a treat to relive those memories and see the band rip through those ageless songs in a way that felt current and not overly nostalgia-inducing. But some of the best moments of the night came when Balance played new material. As I recently wrote, With You In Spirit feels like the perfect reunion album, a culmination of everything they’ve ever done with a hint of where they might go next, and those songs fit in perfectly next to classics like “Quake” and “Tiny Raindrop.” The band were often at their most intense during the new songs, with a sensory overload performance that reached emo-goes-art-rock catharsis, and you could tell that the rowdy crowd was entranced by the new material, not just waiting around for another oldie. I genuinely think it was the best Balance and Composure show I’ve ever seen.
Making the night even better, direct support came from one of Balance and Composure’s forebears, Kevin Devine, who they first toured with 10 years ago, opening for Manchester Orchestra. Kevin took the stage in a Mets t-shirt (they won last night!), and he and The Goddamn Band were in power trio form, which lent itself to the no-frills, rockin’ out set that they delivered. They played a career-spanning set, mixing it up between classic fan faves like show-opener “Cotton Crush,” “Another Bag of Bones,” and “Brother’s Blood” and material from his most recent album, 2022’s excellent Nothing’s Real, So Nothing’s Wrong, with plenty in between, and they sounded fantastic and had a big chunk of the crowd singing along. It was a great way to set the stage for Balance and I think the rest of the crowd–which got increasingly packed throughout Kevin’s set–would agree.
Starting the night off was LA band MILLY, who have been getting a little hype lately and whose mix of emo, grunge, and shoegaze sounds like something that could’ve come out on Run For Cover in 2013, so needless to say they were a good fit with Balance and Composure (and will be a good fit for Basement, who they open for at Hollywood Palladium later this month). Pictures of all three bands by Dimitry Mak are in this post.
Read our new feature/interview with Balance and Composure for more on the new album and their reunion in general. With You In Spirit is out now via Will Yip’s Memory Music label. Balance and Kevin Devine’s setlists and a video from last night are below, after the pics…
Balance and Composure @ Warsaw – 10/3/24 Setlist
Restless
Ain’t it Sweet
Parachutes
Back of Your Head
Void
Quake
any means
I’m Swimming
Notice Me
cross to bear
Midnight Zone
Postcard
Body Language
Afterparty
believe the hype
Tiny Raindrop
Encore:
Dirty Head
Reflection
Kevin Devine @ Warsaw – 10/3/24 Setlist
Cotton Crush
Albatross
Magic Magnet
Little Bulldozer
Carnival
A Story, Sneak
No Why
Redbird
Brother’s Blood
