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Glassjaw, Align, Shiver
Council Fire Room (UW-Eau Claire), Eau Claire, WI
3/10/2002
Reviewer: Andrew
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I'm not going to pretend that I'm some sort of GlassJaw fanatic here. Sure, I enjoy their music to a certain extent, but I'm not a huge fan. With that said, its pretty rare that my small college gets any fairly well known band, so I took up the opportunity to see some pretty good bands in a smaller venue for 5 bucks.
The first band to hit the stage was Shiver, and I must say, I was very impressed with their performance. They seem to be a pretty young band, but they really know how to rock. They seem to be a sort of Glassjaw / Hopesfall combination with screams similar to the old vocalist of Remembering Never (somewhat raspy, sometimes very clear and high pitched), and it proved to be quite a combination, as I enjoyed the gut wrenching shrieks, and my boy who accompanied me really enjoyed the melodic singing. They had nothing for sale, but I urge you to check out some mp3's off of mp3.com, just search for "The Shiver." The recordings aren't top notch, but you get a helping of their diverse sound: sometimes extremely hard and energetic, sometimes mellow. I really think these guys made the show for me, and really hope they stick together and come forth with a full length album. Check them out at www.theshiver.com.
Next up was Align, who are a more typical metal band, but that's not to say that they weren't talented. They played quite well, and did a good job of getting the somewhat small crowd ready for headliners Glassjaw, but the music didn't exactly intrigue me. If you are into some of the more common radio-friendly metal, check these guys out. I also must mention that their singer was quite good, and had a nice scream now and then.
Between the sets of Align and GlassJaw, we headed downstairs to the campus Burger Kind, where we were greeted by typical Sunday night emplyoee, "nose-ring 50 year old." She's always really grumpy. I don't think they like it when a flurry of customers are in need of Burger King near close time on Sundays. But we managed to get a bite, and be heading back to the concert area just as I heard the music begin.
We got back and noticed that the crowd was quite a bit better, and a large circle-pit had opened up in the center of the group. It was good to see some action from the otherwise mellow crowd. GlassJaw treated the fans to some new tunes off of their upcoming album which sounded quite nice, and also played such rocking songs as "Siberian Kiss," "Piano," and "Ry Ry's Song." They did show their musical ability, even in a venue that didn't exactly have top notch sound (though it was better than I had expected), with some nice musicianship. The singer really appeared to be into the show, and expressed his gratitude to the fans, as more people than expected had shown up to see GlassJaw finally headline a show. Finishing with a couple of new songs, the crowd was left seeming fairly content, even for a show in little old Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
The show was surprisingly good, and though I didn't leave with my jaw dragging on the floor or a shirt drenched with sweat, I did discover a great new band and actually got to enjoy an event on campus. And to top it all off, there was no 2 to 4 hour drive home, just a 3 minute walk. Gotta love that.
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