Concert Review: Rise Against, Silverstein, and Comeback Kid

by Erin Rice

Last Friday one of the biggest names in current alternative punk music came through Dallas via the Palladium Ballroom. Rise Against has gained in popularity over the last year following a summer of touring with the Warped Tour, in addition to radio play of two songs off their latest album The Sufferer and the Witness. Rise Against brought a couple of Canucks on tour with them, Silverstein and Comeback Kid.

Comeback Kid from Winnepeg, Canada is notorious for their high-energy hardcore. Andrew Neufeld’s vocals filled the Palladium Ballroom, with a constant stream of noise and attitude. Arriving unfortunately late to catch CBK’s whole set, it was still clear that they provided a great start (after Only Crime, who opened unseen by this reviewer) to rile the kiddies up for Silverstein and Rise Against. As a band capable of headlining their own tour, Comeback Kid works well to bridge the gap between hardcore for teenagers up through your twenty-somethings.

Silverstein took the stage after CBK. Also from the great, white North, (Burlington, Ontario), Silverstein could be your 15-year-old nephew’s (cousin, kid, whatever's) favorite band. Throughout their set the quintet kept up a steady, moshing pace, rife with subtle tempo lifts and falls to keep things interesting for those crashing about (aboot) into one another near the stage.

Silverstein will be releasing their new album, Arrivals and Departures, on July 3, which the tour with Rise Against will no doubt promote to a large degree. More screamo than punk (think Saosin), the bassist and lead guitarist stuck out the most in the band’s set on Friday. Their instrumentation sounded more mature than one would expect from the typical screamo band, with the guitarist busting out the occasional arpeggio to ramp up the crowd. One thing that was lacking from this set, however, was the lead singer’s screaming. One comment from a concert-goer standing near me was, “It sounds like he didn’t do any vocal exercises before taking the stage,” as his voice didn’t seem to be able to hold out for an entire exhalation. Listening to the band’s songs online, however, this doesn’t seem to be the case, so maybe he just didn’t do his vocal exercises, who knows. The kids in the crowd did seem to notice or care.

Exit Silverstein. Enter Rise Against. Having seen Rise Against play in San Francisco during the Warped Tour in 2006, I wasn’t expecting any surprises, just another amazing show. Despite what ended up an unforgettable experience, there were in fact some surprises, most of them good.

While it has taken some time for Rise Against to get the attention they deserve, this is a band that will no doubt stay on top for some time. Unlike most other bands in their genre, RA has managed to fuse fast-tempo alt-punk music with a mature message. Songs like "Prayer of the Refugee", "Paper Wings", and "Worth Dying For" contain lyrics that give the punk kids something of substance to think about and grow with as they become punk adults. This message and passion for creating a meaningful contribution are at the heart of any Rise Against concert.

For the first six or so songs, Rise Against played much of their older stuff. While Rise Against is fast by nature, their earlier songs are faster than much of The Sufferer and The Witness, which didn’t seem to play well in the Palladium. The harsh reverberation in the Palladium, combined with the speed at which the songs progressed, mudded the overall sound when the bass beat bounced back. These faster songs tend to work better in an open, outdoor stage, where the sound is sent out and doesn’t come back. When they moved into some of their newer tunes, which are a slightly different tempo, this problem seemed to mend itself.

After a rousing rendition of "Ready to Fall" the band left the stage, but it was clear the concert was not yet over. Shortly thereafter, Tim McIlrath, the lead singer and primary songwriter for the band, came back out by himself with just an acoustic guitar and gave the raging crowd a chance to calm down. He first played a cover of Jawbreaker’s “Tour Song,” a very ironic choice considering the song is about playing in front of small crowds of show-goers who hate the band. For those that paid attention to the lyrics, this cover was a special treat to show how far RA has come since their start in 1999. “Tour Song” was followed by “Swing Life Away,” which was recorded acoustically for 2003’s Punk Goes Acoustic compilation. The digital age was apparent during these two songs, as most people in the crowd didn’t have their lighters on them, and opted to hold up cell phones to sway with the music.

From there the rest of the band took the stage and Rise Against played another four to six songs including “Survive” and “Drones,” ending the set with their most recent radio hit, “Prayer of the Refugee.” All in all, it was another remarkable Rise Against set with some fun surprises thrown in, maybe for those of us older, non-teenage folks in the crowd. Thank you, from those of us.

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