The Menzingers are out on the road for their “Rented World Summer Tour 2014” in support of their latest release, “Rented World” (out April 22 on Epitaph Records). Digital Diversion caught the band at Slim’s in San Francisco where they were joined by tour-mates Cayetana, PUP and Lemuria for an eclectic night of some pretty awesome music.
A pretty healthy crowd had gathered by the time Cayetana took the stage at 8 pm and, while the band seemed to be new to everyone in the audience, everyone stepped forward to enjoy the 3-piece which had the interesting twist of playing all of the melodies on bass.
Next up was PUP from Toronto who put on a fantastically energetic set, at least partially spurred by vocalist Stefan having been “iced” by Cayetana before their set. Grungy and melodic with catchy pop hooks, these guys were impossible to ignore. Sure, there were 6 dudes up front that knew every word but the rest of the crowd caught on quickly and by the time Stefan took an end-of-set stage dive, there were lots of eager hands to keep him from smashing into the floor although he was not so lucky when he launched himself at drummer Zack who quickly ducked out of the way while Stefan disappeared behind the riser. Be sure to check out their self-titled debut
Providing direct support to The Menzingers was another 3-piece, Lemuria from Buffalo, New York. A little more alt-pop than punk (vocalist Sheena Ozzella apologized in advance for not crowd surfing), Lemuria was certainly not without its own fans. In fact, it was one of those sets where, seeing them for the first time, you look around and wonder how you can be one of the few people in the room that has never seen or heard of this band.
Three 30 minute sets into the night and the crowd was without-a-doubt primed for the Menzingers and as the “curtain” (i.e. movie screen) began to raise, there was a no-so-subtle compression in the crowd as everyone took a few steps forward in anticipation. When the band busted into I Don’t Want To Be An Asshole Anymore, things got downright rowdy … but in the best way possible.
While all of the previous bands had their pockets of nutty fans, during The Menzingers things reached a whole new level. Crowd surfers, stage divers and plenty of dancing and singing along from the front to back of the crowded venue. Heck, songs like Good Things, The Obituaries and Transient Love absolutely demand it. 80-90 minutes of this mayhem left the audience tired but sated. Great line-up, great show.
The Menzingers wrap up their US Tour July 19 in Asbury Park, NJ before heading to Europe in October. You can check out their tour dates here.
Supporting acts: Lemuria, PUP, Cayetana
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