At a typical rock concert, I opt to stand in the open floor area in the middle of the concert venue, as it allows ample room for bopping, swaying and all other manners of rocking out.<\/p>\n
However, as I entered The Regency Ballroom in San Francisco on May 22 for Midwest emo group American Football \u2014 touring its fourth self-titled release \u2014 I found myself doubting this approach. With a band like American Football, a group known for its intricate and intimate tunes, I knew that I would most likely spend the night simply nodding my head to the groove. Taking a seat on the venue\u2019s luxurious balcony instead of joining the standing mass, as the evening unfolded replete with sparkling guitars, pulsing drums and soft songs of teenage life in America, that decision proved suitable.<\/p>\n
The show was opened by singer-songwriter Mei Semones, an up-and-comer based in Brooklyn, New York, with a distinct brand of jazz-inspired indie rock. Semones was not alone, however, she brought with her a five-piece ensemble consisting of drums, bass, viola, violin and vocal with guitar supplied by herself. The inclusion of strings, employed to echo and provide counterpoint to Semones\u2019 gentle but powerful vocals, helped the compositions stand out. Furthermore, the coupling of those vocals with the artist\u2019s signature jazzy guitar lines consistently brought a stillness to the room every time Semones was given the spotlight.<\/p>\n
After a suspenseful intermission of more than 30 minutes \u2014 during which time one could admire the ceiling\u2019s 22 chandeliers and the wall\u2019s ornate patterns \u2014 American Football made its entrance at 9:10 p.m. The band members took their places and stoically began their set with \u201cMan Overboard,\u201d the opener of their new record. Employing an energetic and off-kilter drum groove that serves as the backbone for the rest of the song, \u201cMan Overboard\u201d is easily one of the better showings from the new album. The album, called simply American Football (LP4), sees the group make several attempts at branching out its sound \u2014 each varying heavily in direction and quality.<\/p>\n
The group supplemented its performance of the new material with other more recent tracks, including songs from its second and third records, titled American Football (LP2) and American Football (LP3), respectively. This included an instant highlight in \u201cMy Instincts Are the Enemy\u201d off the second album, whose stop-and-start riff and extended polyrhythmic outro made it a joy to hear live.<\/p>\n
About halfway through the show, frontman Mike Kinsella at last introduced the band. Just as American Football is not a typical rock band, Kinsella is not a typical rock star. He is soft-spoken, has a bushy dad mustache and calls himself an \u201cIllinois grandma\u201d in a reference to the home state of both Kinsella and American Football.<\/p>\n
The group released its landmark debut in 1999, whose sublime combination of math rock, emo and indie rock imbued with adolescent nostalgia gained a large cult following, which only grew during its subsequent hiatus. Throughout the night, it became evident that the group is in some ways still riding the success of that first record, because when the band broke into early classics such as the propulsive \u201cHonestly?\u201d and the indie anthem \u201cNever Meant,\u201d the audience was immediately revitalized. As concert-goers belted the latter\u2019s angst-ridden verses over the song\u2019s iconic jaunty riff, the night reached its zenith.<\/p>\n
With this, American Football walked off in glory \u2014 but returned shortly after for an obligatory encore. During this encore, the group played not one or two, but four songs from its new record. This began with the pleasant trumpet-piano duo \u201cThe One with the Piano\u201d and ended with the eight-minute ballad \u201cBad Moons,\u201d with two rather unmemorable tracks sandwiched in between. While this was a welcome surprise for fans of the new record, those who preferred the more classic sound of the preceding tracks found the encore fell on deaf ears.<\/p>\n
All in all, despite an imperfect setlist, American Football could hardly have been better. With the band\u2019s gimmick-free mixing of instruments and the large audience turnout, the night\u2019s entertainment acted as a reassuring indicator that musicianship is still in style.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At a typical rock concert, I opt to stand in the open floor area in the middle of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[18875,139319,139318,89070,115250,139321,139320,101,103,102,104,106,105,128338],"class_list":["post-337673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-american-football","tag-american-football-lp1","tag-american-football-lp4","tag-emo","tag-indie-rock","tag-midwest-emo","tag-mike-kinsella","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-the-regency-ballroom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}