JAWBREAKER FINALLY BRING THE 'DEAR YOU' 25TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR TO NYC

The 90’s San Francisco emo punk veterans Jawbreaker have been waiting to make a comeback for a very long time. After reuniting at Riot Fest back in 2017, and a brief tour in 2018, they had planned to kick out a big 25th anniversary tour for their 1995 Dear You album almost two years back, but that pesky pandemic kept getting in the way. Finally, the band has made its return to NYC with four sold out shows at Irving Plaza, and they brought along a powerful array of opening acts to make sure we were all fully entertained right down to our rock n’ roll hearts.

Opening the show was a bit of standup by Chris Gethard for some tasty laughs. He is a comedian and actor who collected a considerable following among the local rock scene, as his wacky TV variety program called The Chris Gethard Show often showcased and championed local New York and New Jersey bands. He just recently released a book called Dad on Pills: Fatherhood and Mental Illness Book, and he too had been delayed from touring by COVID, but he clearly has his live comedic chops raging again.

Chris Gethard

Shellshag came on next, and they’re a veteran NYC guitar/drum rock duo, and lovingly wild couple who trade off lead vocals as they perform facing each other over a large alien-looking device that hold all their instruments. Guitarist John Driver has a deeply baritone presence with a sweet charm, and drummer Jennifer Shagawat is a playfully impish spirit that bounces around with bells on her feet as she plays which makes her whole body a wildly jovial percussive instrument. They play until their set hits a big crescendo, and they take all their equipment and stack it all in a big pyramid in the middle of the stage. Their shows are always great fun and so full of energy, and it’s great to see them out playing live again.

Shellshag

An unlikely pack of teenaged girls from LA called The Linda Lindas played next, and they quickly showed off why they are one of the most buzzed about bands in the rock world today. Their star has been shooting high since last year when they went viral with a video of them playing a punky ditty called “Racist, Sexist Boy” in a Public Library that lifted us all up mid-pandemic and truly displayed some great classic Riot Grrrl roar. It hasn’t hurt that they’ve also made appearances in movies like last year’s Moxie, and they have gotten a lot of support from feminist rock icons like Kathleen Hanna, Karen O, and Kim Gordon, and many more. They have also just released a great debut album called Growing Up, so they are clearly ready to take things to the next level. Their varied tastes has flavors of their diverse Chinese, Mexican and Salvadoran backgrounds, and they also have the polish of a much more experienced band, but if you weren’t watching them in person, you may be surprised that these ladies are actually all between 11 and 17 years old. They may be young, but they can kick out a powerful punk anthem sound, and they all clearly very talented, which makes their rapid rise all that more impressive. It probably doesn’t help their rock n’ roll zeal that the sisters of Lucia and Mila de la Garza are both daughters of Grammy-winning producer Carlos de la Garza, but along with their cousin Eloise Wong and family friend Bela Salazar, they stand their own ground and clearly have a great capacity for rockin’ out.

The Linda Lindas

This was a Jawbreaker reunion many said would never happen including the band members themselves, but it is especially poignant they finally played NYC again since they originally formed here back in the late 80’s while they were students at NYU. Singer and guitarist Blake Schwarzenbach, bassist Chris Bauermeister, and drummer Adam Pfahler did eventually relocate to California, but that rough and ready New York sound persisted with their proceeding albums like 1990’s Unfun and 92’s Bivouc. After opening for the likes of Nirvana and releasing 24 Hour Revenge Therapy the band was clearly on the edge of breaking big, as their early emo and raw garage sound fit well into the whole grunge explosion of those wild mid 90’s days. It was then they signed with a major label and recorded Dear You, an album that pretty much killed them, both in terms of being incredibly grueling to make, but also being received poorly by many fans that at the time that found it excessively polished and popish, and some even made accusations of them selling out to the man. They broke up soon after and Schwarzenbach had repeatedly said they would never reunite ever since, that was until a few years back when they finally played a couple of “one-off shows” that has thankfully gotten their creative juices flowing as they are reportedly working on a long-awaited follow-up to Dear You, an album which now gets a whole lot more respect among their fans.

Jawbreaker

They came out and did indeed play the whole Dear You album, although the song order was definitely all mixed up. They did shove in a few of their earlier tracks, like “Condition Oakland” and “The Boat Dreams From the Hill” from 94’s 24 Hour Revenge Therapy and “Parabola” from 92’s Bivouac. Their encore started with the final song off that last album called “Unlisted,” but the show ended with a couple rare songs “Housesitter” and “Kiss the Bottle” that had gotten released back in 2002 on a rarities compilation called Etc. It was great to hear and see these guys back out on the road, and I can’t wait to rock out to them live and in person again.