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“constantines make music for people who like rock. everyone else can go listen to vampire weekend.” - peter botham, the news journal

i woke up on my couch early sunday evening in a complete panic, thinking that i had slept through that night’s constantines show. i threw on a shirt, jumped into my car and arrived at johnny brenda’s with only about um… an hour+ to spare. oakley hall was surprisingly good as a four piece with a set that rocked a lot more than previous listens would have predicted.

i vividly remember the first time i heard constantines a few years ago, driving back from lunch in the heat of summer with my intern, listening to a live performance on jon solomon’s show. the first song we heard was “young lions” and i was hooked. putting punk energy into songs that are anthemic and blue collar while also being literate, sincere and devoid of cheesy sloganeering (”working full time” could easily be a thinking man’s “taking care of business”) is what made me love this band, and that was before i even saw them live tonight.

the room completely filled up by the time the constantines took the stage, jumping into “hotline operator” and my hands were already sore after “working full time”. they played a lot from the new album, which is pretty amazing upon my first couple of listens. they played more from the first album and tournament of hearts (”justice” and “lizaveta” at that volume and energy levels were a revelation to me) than shine a light but nevertheless, the set was, to steal a superlative from my younger cousins, totally badass. i can’t help but feel like moron whenever i use that word but whatever. maria made a good point in mentioning that steve’s songs provide a counterbalance to the band when they approach springsteen-levels of earthiness and earnestness - “shower of stones”, which is a serviceable track on kensington heights, is just an explosion live and a great dynamic contrast to almost songs:ohia-ish songs like “time can be overcome”. to top it off, they ended their set with a riffingly faithful and yes, badass cover of AC/DC’s “thunderstruck” aka “the AC/DC song that people who don’t even like AC/DC love”.

set list (i think this is closer than i usually am):

hotline operator
working full-time
justice
young offenders
hard feelings
million star hotel
young lions
arizona
shower of stones
trans canada
thieves
time can be overcome
brother run them down
lizaveta
thunderstruck