Album Reviews
Movies
Concert Reviews

Top 10
Resources
Contact Us

When Further Seems Forever was forced to back out as headliners of the Tooth & Nail Tour, Anberlin bravely stepped to the plate to cover the loss; however, after witnessing first hand the power, thrill, and intensity of MewithoutYou live, Tooth & Nail might want to reconsider who should be headlining this particular tour.

Two years ago I stupidly passed on the opportunity to see MewithoutYou live. While browsing the Tooth & Nail merch booth at the 2002 Sonshine Festival in Willmar, Minn., I asked one of the guys sitting at the table for a recommendation. I said I was starving for something along the lines of The Deadlines's Fashion Over Function or Squad Five-O. The young man, dressed darkly and looking like he'd just stepped off Ellis Island, circa 1900, said, "Hmm . . . so you're looking for something different?" He picked up MewithoutYou's [A -->B] LIFE, suggested I give it a try and told me I should check out the band's show later that night. Now, just a few weeks earlier, I'd read a brief article in HM Magazine about MewithoutYou, which featured a photo of the band. The guy holding the CD looked an awful lot like one of the guys from the band, so I was a little skeptical that he was simply doing some self-promotion. I passed on the CD and never made it back for the show.

Sometimes, I'm an idiot.

For the next TWO YEARS, every time I turned around, somebody was writing about, talking about, or e-mailing me another rave review touting MewithoutYou as "the greatest live band EVER!" Argh. When I saw MewithoutYou on the current T&N Tour bill, I wasn't about to duck a second chance.

Friday night, Feb. 27, I speed walked to the Ascot Room entrance of The Quest, having gotten stuck in rush hour traffic and very lost once I entered downtown Minneapolis, Minn. I was late and needed a bathroom desperately! (Minneapolis is a two-hour drive from my home in rural northwest Wisconsin.) By the grace of God, the parking ramp I chose was only a block away from the front door of The Quest. I checked in at the door, snatched up my photo pass and wove my way through the black-clad, all ages "alterna-kid" crowd to find the bathroom. Emery was playing its last two songs, and though I was impressed with its tight harmonies and very respectable rendition of The Police's "Message in a Bottle," I couldn't put off nature's call any longer.

After a quick pit stop, I set up near the soundboard in the back of the room, just behind the trunk of a large fake tree--one of several in the room, whose vinelike branches snaked across the ceiling. A few kids sat on the edge of the Italian-style fountain in the middle of the room which served as sort of a dividing line between those who were into the show and those just hanging around talking or checking e-mail on their cell phones. I noticed many of the young people in the crowd were wearing neon ear plugs. Maybe kids are getting smarter about the long-term effects of loud rock 'n' roll. I scratched my unprotected ear and waited anxiously through Watashi Wa's set for MewithoutYou to take the stage. I wasn't the only one looking ahead. When Watashi Wa's lead singer mentioned MewithoutYou was next, there were loud  "YEAAAAAHHHHH!!!" screams from every corner of the dimly lit forest.

During the change-over, I tried to push my way to the front to get a clearer spot for photos, but the variously pierced, mascara-caked crowd was tough to part. I found a security guy who spied my reflective photo pass and ushered me to a wide open spot just off stage right. MewithoutYou--whose members looked like they had just wandered out of a long-forgotten farm field or emerged from under a cardboard blanket in a neighboring alley--adjusted their amps and countless effects pedals while I screwed on my flash and played with aperture settings. When the heavy chords washed over the crowd and the thunderous drums jerked the front row fans into pulsating head bobs, I was sucked into MewithoutYou's mesmerizing magic. The guitar sounds were lush and layered, the vocals unintelligible but passionate; singer Aaron Weiss said as much with his writhing body and flailing arms as he did with his fiery throat. Drummer Richard Mazzotta, a bearded, Jack-Blackish madman, thrashed his drum set like a little kid in the midst of a temper tantrum. Aaron mirrored Mazzotta's childlike intensity by spinning, skipping, and shyly embracing himself, as if he were reluctantly admitting to something he shouldn't have done. Guitarists Michael Weiss and Christopher Kleinberg swayed their electrified selves to and fro, while bassist Daniel Pishock sauntered back and forth between bass and keyboard. The band was visually engaging as well. I shot 24 frames in less than two songs. The entrancing movement didn't quit until the last feedback from each song faded. With my film spent, I stood back, astounded, for the rest of the show, wholly impressed by the dead-on guitar tones and bone-jarring beats. And every time I found myself in fear that Aaron was sinking into frightening insanity, he would sweetly address the crowd, encouraging each person to say something nice to the person next to them like "Peace be with you," or, while holding flowers wrapped in blue cellophane, "Thank you, whoever threw these . . . at my head!"

As the final chord of MewithoutYou's finale, "The Cure For Pain," swelled, Aaron lifted his arms high above his head, stretching and grinning like a child waking on a sunny morning. He trailed off vocally with the lingering guitar tones: "Peace, peace, peace . . . "

Wow.

Anberlin rounded out the four-band show, but with all due respect to it, Emery, and Watashi Wa, MewithoutYou WAS the show.