Tom Gabel @ The Knitting Factory 11/20/08

Last Thursday night I swung downtown to see Tom Gabel (lead singer of Against Me!) at the Knitting Factory. For those that haven't been there before, it's a real small room with a stage at the front and a bar on the right. I'd say it can maybe hold 150 people or so.

I had been listening to Tom's solo album non-stop but didn't know much of the Against Me! catalog..........I think I was one of a handful of people there in that category. The concert was billed as an acoustic show so I thought it might be kind of chill....i was quite wrong. Tom started off with a new song and then played a few tracks from his solo album before inviting his friend Kevin to the stage to play drums and launching into a heavy set of Against Me! favorites.

I was really impressed by the crowd, they seemed to know EVERY word, dancing, surfing, stage diving, etc. Everyone was real pumped and it was clearly a room full of diehards. Tom is a hell of a performer too, you could tell that he was leaving it all out there, his tshirt was soaked at the end of the show like he had just finished a marathon. One other real cool thing is that the crowd picked up many of the typical chorus parts so there was a bit of a "give and take" with Tom. This whole night felt like hanging with a bunch of friends more than going to a concert, just a great intimate feel to the whole experience.

A few of the songs really stuck out to me so once I got home I immediately went to Itunes and downloaded some of their stuff. Needless to say I haven't stopped listening yet. I kind of wish I knew about this band awhile ago but I guess it's never too late. Here's a couple pics I took and some video clips from the show......

TOM SOLO




TOM & KEVIN




"WALKING IS STILL HONEST"




"JORDAN'S FIRST CHOICE"




"SHIT STROLL"