It’s Alright at the Middle East

Hot off of their latest album, It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All a Dream! It's Alright, Mewithoutyou was in rare form when I saw them on July 11, 2009 at the Middle East in Cambridge, MA. I am not a religious person but that hasn't impeded my enjoyment of the band's Christian-leaning lyrics and themes. Singer Aaron Weiss's words have always flowed like good poetry and the subject matter is identifiable regardless of your spiritual orientation. Check out the new album below and experience it for yourself:

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I had seen the band once before which you can read about in this review. I was especially interested to see them this time around due to significant change in direction of their latest album. It's All Crazy finds the band all but abandoning their post-hardcore roots and instead embracing their folk influences as well as the experimentation of bands like Neutral Milk Hotel.

The set kicked off with "Messes of Men" which had the band jamming a surprising amount. It seemed like they were just warming up to the crowd and getting comfortable. As the band broke into new material such as "Goodbye, I!" and "Every Thought a Thought of You", they got into a groove which picked up as each song fell on the crowd in succession.

Mewithoutyou is clearly a band that feeds off of the crowd and the people in attendance at the Middle East certainly gave them a lot to work with. Songs like "Timothy Hay" and "Torches Together" had everyone swaying in unity and singing along joyfully. The group has been playing significantly different set lists each night of this tour which is always something I like to see bands doing. As with last time, I was disappointed that they didn't play anything off of [A --> B] Life but I guess they are a different band now. I can't be too upset with such a good show and I did get to see them play a lot of songs off of Catch for Us the Foxes that I wasn't expecting to hear. The night appropriately came to a close with a passionate rendition of "In a Sweater Poorly Knit" leaving everyone satisfied as they poured out of the venue.

Mewithoutyou set list Middle East 7/11/09:
Messes of Men
Goodbye, I!
C-Minor
Leaf
Every Thought a Thought of You
My Exit, Unfair
The Sun and the Moon
Tie Me Up! Untie Me!
Timothy Hay
O, Porcupine
The King Beetle on a Coconut Estate
Torches Together
The Fox, the Crow and the Cookie
Encore:
A Stick, a Carrot & String
Allah, Allah, Allah
In a Sweater Poorly Knit

Timothy Hay

In a Sweater Poorly Knit