Joyce Manor played House of Blues – 3/21
Masters of economy Joyce Manor returned to Boston with support from Militarie Gun, Teen Mortgage and Combat.
__________
Is there such a thing as a perfect band? Objectively not, but there are certain groups who represent a true platonic ideal of their scene and style. Joyce Manor is one of these bands.
Over 15 years and seven records – none of which clip the 25-minute mark – the Torrance, CA crew have zeroed in on a witty, affecting and almost alarmingly catchy strain of power-pop-punk that simply hits every time. Their latest, January’s I Used to Go to this Bar, is yet another entry in a bulletproof discography (fight me on the good-actually Million Dollars to Kill Me) that brought the band to Boston’s House of Blues last Saturday for a stacked quadruple bill.
As frontman Barry Johnson noted on stage, the last time Joyce Manor had played that room was in a support slot for Modern Baseball – the sort of pairing that practically feels mythical ten years later. Perhaps in time we’ll be looking back on this tour in a similar fashion.
Kicking things off were Baltimore’s Combat, whose frantically energetic set weaved around technical difficulties and a (presumably-) mock-firing of one guitarist mid-set to find scrappy transcendence. D.C. duo Teen Mortgage made effective use of the guitar/drums combo for their noisy garage punk, landing both a little Japandroids and a little Lightning Bolt.
L.A. post-hardcore crew Militarie Gun took the direct support slot, riling up a room where they clearly had no shortage of fans with songs both heady and anthemic. The band skews a little most post- than hardcore as of last year’s God Save the Gun, but they still bring the energy and the air-time on stage. Always a great time.
For Joyce Manor’s headlining set – which, in traditional form, covered 24 songs in a little over an hour – the kids took to the new songs just as heartily as the time-tested classics, belting out opener “I Know Where Mark Chen Lives” like they’d known it their whole lives (which is something it’s not difficult to feel about this song once you’ve heard it a couple of times).
It was largely business as usual for JM, with sizable helpings of their self-titled debut and 2014’s Never Hungover Again (which they played in full last time they were in town), but none of the assembled faithful took any issue with that. And we did get one surprise to close out the night, with fun. and The Format frontman Nate Ruess (who’d hosted an acoustic show on the Common featuring Johnson earlier in the day) joining the band for what was apparently their first-ever performance of Cody deep cut “Angel in the Snow.” “Angel in the Snow” is one of my favorite songs on what is (on most days) my favorite Joyce Manor record, so great end to the night for me.
Scroll below for an extended look at the whole gig.
