Modern Baseball rolled into Asbury Park, NJ for the second time and sold out the infamous Asbury Lanes on June 4. Kids without tickets were begging to be let in at the door as the first band (Sorority Noise) took the stage.
Sorority Noise was a good find – and a band I’ll definitely be keeping tabs on in the future – that fit right into the lineup with their indie/emo sound, and a handful of people even knew the words. The Hotelier took the stage next. After putting out what, in my opinion, is one of – if not – the best albums of 2014 so far, I was reeling with anticipation to see them. They did not disappoint, as they rolled through almost the whole new album, Home, Like Noplace Is There, and played an old song as well. Emotions were running high during this set and I even had trouble keeping myself together enough to shoot pictures. The Hotelier is a band you need to check out if you haven’t yet because they could very well change the way you look at music.
Tiny Moving Parts jammed afterwards. I had seen these guys in the same town at Skate & Surf several weeks earlier and really liked what I heard. Their technical yet clean sound is fun and bouncy to listen to and it’s very clean live. Their drummer, Billy, also gets the award for hardest hitting drummer of the night; after sitting next to him for a song or two, I was afraid his drums were going to explode as he blasted them, spot on, through the technical rhythms. Modern Baseball closed out the night without guitarist/vocalist Brendan Lukens, who had fallen ill. The frontman of Sorority Noise filled in on guitar while Jacob Ewald (guitarist/vocalist) and Ian Farmer (bassist) were in charge of vocal duties. The crowd – which was much younger than I expected – did not seem to mind as they screamed along to the whole set; they sang at such a loud volume that I often heard them more than the actual vocals. You could tell that, in particular, Modern Baseball loves what they do, as they were having as much fun on stage as their fans. They left a bunch of sweaty kids in Asbury Park happy that night and nobody can wait until they come back to do it again. Check out some pictures from the show below.
Links: Modern Baseball – Tiny Moving Parts – The Hotelier – Sorority Noise – Dieter Unrath Photography
