Courtesy of Kyle Dean Reinford for XL Recordings.
Titus Andronicus and The So So Glos brought their unique brands of Brooklyn DIY music to the Middle East Club in Cambridge Monday.
As Titus Andronicus leader Patrick Stickles told me, their friendship with the So So Glos has become one the defining elements of the Brooklyn DIY scene.
“The very first show on the Brooklyn scene at a place called Don Pedro’s, I met three of the So So Glos and we played our first show together later that month. And since then it’s just been love,” Stickles said. “It’s been a bromance.”
As close as they are, in many ways the So So Glos and Titus Andronicus are remarkably different. Titus Andronicus is known for their seven-minute, existential rock ‘n’ roll epics, while the So So Glos are more known for short, bucolic, punk-rock explosions.
Ultimately, if there’s anything their new “Bring Back the Dudes” tour proves, it’s that, like peanut butter and pickle sandwiches, sometimes unlikely combinations are the best kind.
Following a quick set from Boston locals Hands and Knees, Boston Red Sox organ player and friend of the band Josh Kantor came out and introduced the “starting lineup” of the So So Glos. It became apparent almost immediately that this was going to be a show to remember.
They started with “Wrecking Ball” and then proceeded to run through most of the songs off their newest album, Blowout, including “Diss Town,” “House of Glass,” “Speakeasy,” and the title track “Blowout.”
Over the course of their hour-long set, the audience slowly fell in love with the still relatively provincial So So Glos, which speaks to their ability to play a crowd.
Through a series of pleas to the audience that they, “come down to our stupid level” and lead singer Alex Levine’s appeals to the “underdogs” in the crowd, the audience, which had previously been comprised of obstinate hipsters, devolved into a motley group of ecstatic po-goers — just as the So So Glos intended.
This remarkable shift reached a fever pitch just in time for the band to explode into their three-minute hit single, “Son of an American.”
Amid a frenzy of stage diving and demands for “Malt liquor, malt ice cream,” it was clear that these Brooklyn boys had won the crowd over.
Equally as refreshing as their set itself was the fact that afterward, fans were able to chat with Zach Staggers and Ryan Levine while they made custom t-shirts with stencils and spray paint at their merchandise table. In stark contrast, the members of Titus Andronicus remained relatively aloof until they took the stage around 11 p.m.
The anticipation was palpable as Titus Andronicus appeared — and with Stickles’s traditional “Hi, we’re Titus Andronicus from Glen Rock, New Jersey,” the second half of the show had begun. Opening with “A Pot in Which to Piss,” it became clear that Titus Andronicus would not have to work nearly as hard as their fellow Brooklynites to whip this crowd into frenzy.
Stickles and crew proceeded to rip through a number of deep cuts, including The Airing of Grievances’ “Titus Andronicus,” “Upon Viewing Brueghel’s ‘Landscape With the Fall of Icarus,’” and a particularly intense “My Time Outside the Womb.”
Their first set included covers of AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” and the Modern Lovers’ Boston classic, “Roadrunner.”
As always, the set was fantastic, well constructed, and demonstrated Stickles’s uncanny ability to be frighteningly emotional while still appealing to some universal aspect of his audience’s humanity.
Arguably the high point of their show was the drawn out version of “To Old Friends and New,” during which Stickles seemed at any point ready to completely succumb to a nervous breakdown. Never disappointing, Stickles persevered and ended their first set with a medley of the incredible epic “A More Perfect Union” and the blistering, solo-vehicle “… And Ever.”
Following the end of their set, Stickles invited the So So Glos back on stage to join him in forming the “Shea Stadium All Stars,” so named for the Brooklyn DIY venue that Titus Andronicus frequents and the So So Glos and their producer Adam Reich run.
The group then proceeded to launch into a series of covers that collectively represented the bands’ shared values.
The group explored their common musical roots with Joan Jett & The Blackhearts’ “I Love Rock ’N Roll” and Rancid’s “Roots Radical,” and the So So Glos took turns trading verses, demonstrating their considerable skills as rappers, and demonstrating hometown pride with an amazing cover of the Beastie Boy’s “No Sleep Till Brooklyn.”
The show ended with Billy Bragg’s “To Have and To Have Not,” which perfectly reflected the underdog spirit that both bands espouse.
After a long night, the Shea Stadium All Stars left the stage and Stickles could be heard yelling, “the dudes are back!” and I couldn’t agree more.
<i>Don’t miss the rest of what Stickles said; read the interview here.</i>
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