Anberlin | The Final Tour
House of Blues Boston 11/12/14
The Final Tour? Sounds like something Gob Bluth put together, right? Come on! Heads up, this isn’t really going to be about Anberlin. Well, no more than anything else you can read here is about what we’re supposed to write about. What am I talking about? I’m the master of my own destiny, I can write anything I want. If I feel like talking about how ridiculous the CGI apes in the second Hunger Games are while writing about Anberlin, I’ll do just that. If I want to post something on candy cane flavors, try to stop me! Belarus, drums, soccer, Candice Bergen, copper wire, The Muppets, Frankenstein, the Hubble Telescope, jigsaw puzzles! What the hell AM I talking about?
A few words about Anberlin. They’ve been recording music and touring for 12 years. Their sound is…alternative rock? They have elements of metal, punk, emo, dark wave, pop and rock and they are most often referred to as Christian Rock. Which is of course makes no sense. I don’t identify as a Christian but I’m sure even those that do follow Jesus don’t have a particular sound of music that they listen to. I know it’s because they were on Tooth & Nail Records, but still, get it together music industry. Christian Rock should not be a thing unless the band is solely tinkering with different covers of “Our God is an Awesome God”. And then they should be committed, not have their music reviewed.
More important than their religious beliefs are their music, and Anberlin has recorded 7 albums that are…pretty good. Some of them are really good (start with Cities) but most of them are a mix of great songs and filler. Well, maybe not filler, some of it is just not for me. The band often shows more of their 80s dark wave/new wave influences on their sleeves, bands like Depeche Mode and New Order that are sort of a blindspot in my music listening history. But when Anberlin can scrape together the best tracks they have, you have a pretty good basis for a live show. The Final Tour stop in Boston was proof as they ripped through a set that had Wednesday night crowd pretty amped.
Promoting a farewell tour is always good way to make sure that you have a great crowd. Even when your fans are suspect and know 5 years later they will be shelling out more money for a reunion tour, it does seem to bring out a lot of people who actually care about the band. Farewell tours often eliminate the people who only show up because they heard that one or two songs on Spotify. You’ll get more people that haven’t listen to the band in years, but no one wants to hear a band’s new crap anyway. (For the record, Anberlin only played one song off their latest album “We are the Destroyers”). Farewell tours are packaged musical nostalgia. We know it and we’re suckers for it anyway. We all want a reason to go in public and belt out the songs from high school and college. It reminds us of a time where we used to take our spot on the floor, showed up on time for the opening bands, and watch a concert without having to run to the bar every 20 minutes. Of course, I only hung on the fringes of the floor and couldn’t help myself from drinking, but I at least put down the beer can to clap my hands and raise my firsts throughout the 90 minute set.
At the end of the show I felt…tired. I’m old. So are they, that’s why they are hanging it up. I can’t blame a band for retiring. Even the Christian-Rockstar life would probably wear on you. Touring relentlessly and not seeing the people you love can’t be easy. At some point you just want to go home and sleep in your own bed, with your own wife, with your own kid coming into the next room to wake you up by beating you in the head with a toy. They played a lot of shows in 12 years, made some decent music, and got to go out on their own terms. At least until the money runs out and they run some calculations on those reunion tour shares. But forget that for now. I always thought Anberlin would break through into mainstream a little bit more; songs like “The Feel Good Drag” and “Impossible” made some waves but nothing too noticeable. But does it really matter? Judging by the appreciation showed by the band to their audience, and the fans back to the musicians on stage, it seems like one last night to rock out together might have been enough.
The Drink: Holy Wine? I don’t know, who gives a shit?
Bake
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