At first glance, it seemed like the black-suited, tie-wearing Alkaline Trio band members could appear on The Ed Sullivan Show. But then the tattoos, Matt Skiba’s nose ring, an unshaven Dan Andriano, and the foolish thought waivered. Then, the moment Skiba, Andriano, and drummer Atom Willard unleashed their powerful, unabashed pop/emo/alt-punk rock that fans have come to expect, any notion of that vanished. That unleashing did take a few extra minutes at their March 17 concert in St. Louis at The Pageant as a slight technical glitch kept them and fans waiting. Skiba made up a brief ditty he’d probably call “Technical Problems” about the difficulties. But the wait was well worth it.
After the slight hiccup, the trio began their set (again) amid bold red lighting on a stripped-down stage and teased a line or two of “Bleeder,” before launching into “Private Eye” followed by “Take Lots with Alcohol.” The tightly knit Chicago-based group, touring in support of their January album release, Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs masterfully kept the nearly sold-out room enrapt for the remainder of their nearly 90-minute set.
“We’re here to celebrate our new album,” said Andriano at one point. “I think we can still play this,” as they launched into the fast, upbeat, almost jaunty punk song “Break” off their new album. They pulled in a few songs from the new album including “Hot for Preacher,” and “Bad Time” but relied mainly on past material which kept their fans bouncing and singing along in unison all night long.
New York’s Drug Church primed the growing crowd for Alkaline Trio with vocalist Patrick Kindlon egging the fans on with remarks such as, “It’s a punk show. Now move!” The band took their role to prime the pack seriously and had people crowd surfing about halfway through their 40-minute set. Kindlon also joked at times, talking about how he ate salads for breakfast to stay healthy but he couldn’t find a salad between Chicago and St. Louis, so “I had a Frito pie instead” and was feeling sluggish. If his consistent bounding across the stage is sluggish, this concert photographer cannot fathom his energy level when he’s not feeling out of sorts.
The Worriers, a project of guitarist/vocalist Lauren Denitzio opened the night with a 30-minute set of more melodic punk and rock such as the solemn “Grand Closing.” Supporting them on stage was drummer Jordyn Blakely, lead guitarist Frank Piegaro, and bassist Adam for this leg of their tour. Denitzio mentioned they’d put an album out last year and “have been touring ever since.”
A couple of thousand people probably wound up taking off work (or school) on Monday, or at least had a late start to their day after the extreme energy spent at this nearly 3-hour boisterous Sunday night punk rock show.
All photos from the night https://bit.ly/AlkalineTrio24cz
Alkaline Trio setlist https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/alkaline-trio/2024/the-pageant-st-louis-mo-2baac4fe.html
Check out upcoming concerts at The Pageant in St. Louis here.
Watch Alkaline Trio’s entire St. Louis set here
In my work life, I help nonprofits and small businesses with media and public relations. In my what I love to do life, you can typically find me photographing either wild horses or concerts.
