BASEMENT & CITIZEN ROCK WHITE EAGLE HALL

This billing of Basement and Citizen gave me flashbacks of 1993 at Roseland Ballroom for Nirvana and Jesus Mary Chain. These guys brought energy to White Eagle Hall in Jersey City, NJ that I haven’t seen in years. This new venue has also brought something to New Jersey that it hasn’t seen in years, a nice, intimate venue to see some amazing rock bands!

Ohio/Michigan rockers Citizen got the crowd of young twenty-something followers crowd surfing and what I call “Snap Diving;” jumping on stage and taking a selfie while diving back into the crowd. That’s one thing I didn’t see at the Nirvana show! Citizen recently released their third LP since 2013, As You Please, which contains the single and crowd favorite “In the Middle Of It All.”

citizen

Five-piece UK based Basement are the headliners for this tour. They formed back in 2009 in Ipswich, England and released their first album, I Wish I Could Stay Here, in 2011. This night they kicked off their set with the burner, “Whole” from their second album Colourmeinkindness. The energy just continued from there ripping through songs like “Fading,” Brothers Keeper,” “Covet” and “Spoiled” before ending the night with the self-titled single from their latest album, Promise Everything. They are continuing to tour the US for the remainder of May before heading to Europe for the rest of the summer. However, anyone heading to Lollapalooza this August will be lucky enough to catch their return to the United States.