In typical fashion we were late for the doors and missed the first support act Eugene Quell but we turned up just in time for support band O'Brother who came out all clashing drums and powerful vocals that created a mixed reaction in the packed out crowd. There were moments of clarity where the instruments matched Tanner Merritt's angst ridden outbursts but after a while the songs blended into one and the drawn out delivery of every lyric started getting a little too pretentious even for a room full of Jesse Lacey worshippers. There was a touch of Muse about them with the way Merritt projected his vocals whilst the music was more fitting to the headliners. They closed their set and left me wishing i'd checked them out beforehand so I wasn't trying to work out exactly what sound they were going for.
Now it's a week on and i'm still gracing the bruises from the crowd surfing, crowd crushing sweltering hot and very drunk room that Clwb had become. And if you think for a split second i'm complaining then you're entirely wrong. From the moment La Dispute broke into "HUDSONVILLE, MI 1956" the crowd were eagerly trying to keep up with the storytelling genius - what I mean is successfully managing to passionately yell every other word in time.
With a storming set list the crowd got rowdier as the night progressed and the reaction to old and new songs alike were just as excitable instead of being in favour of one or the other like is (unfortunately) common at gigs. After taking several shoes to the head during "Stay Happy There" and "St. Paul..." the set - and Jordan Dreyer who had been bouncing around like a kid that had been injected with caffeine - slowed down for the gorgeous sounding "Woman (In Mirror)."
With the crowd chilled out Jordan introduced their next song "a Letter" with the line 'this song is for anyone who suffers from a mental illness' and the atmosphere in the room plummeted to a sombre one. The entire room sung along, some joining the band in holding back tears. The frantic crowd returned the second "Andria" kicked in and my brother - who lives under a rock and didn't know Rooms Of The House existed - was shocked at the slightly more upbeat sound to "For Mayor In Splitsville."
Announcing this was their last song and thanking us for making them feel at home the band launched into "You And I In Unison" and everyone was jumping on top of each other determined to get closer to these musical gods. Somewhere in the ruckus a guy lost his shoe and nearly decapitated me trying to give me a sweaty forehead kiss for finding it - uh, thanks dude. The band disappeared to the non-existent back stage - well the band stayed on stage awkwardly staring while Dreyer sat to the side on his own - and the crowd tried several different chants before settling for screaming "KING PARK" at the top of our lungs. Laughing his way back on stage Dreyer joked how that didn't go quite to plan before the band, of course, closed with "King Park" and the room just about lost it. There was no holding back on anyone's part.
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