Images: The Front Bottoms, Brick + Mortar, Diet Cig April 23, 2016 at Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas

You know a show is going to be good when the pre-show playlist is made up of Matt Skiba, Mariah Carey, Brand New and The Replacements. And that’s a fact. An actual, indisputable fact. Because only a band with complete confidence in their skills has the courage to come out after the greats.

Diet Cig was the first band of the night, or at least, the first live band. And if frontwoman Alex Luciano was just a few feet taller and 100 pounds heavier, I’d put money on her being the true identity of Intruder Green. The spunky singer/guitarist spent the majority of the band’s set high kicking across the stage in time to Noah Bowman’s rocking beats, huge smile across their faces like this was the best show they’ve ever played. Luciano was like Matt and Kim rolled into one and the enthusiasm was definitely contagious. Musically, the duo has a foot each in twee and two more in pop punk, with songs as quirky as they are catchy. Outside of being just plain fun, the band also had a positive message, with Luciano dedicating the set to her “women, non-binary and trans friends, to anyone who feels marginalized” before singing the line of the night: “It’s hard to be punk when I’m wearing a skirt.”

Brick + Mortar, whose name kind of sounds like Rick and Morty when said three times fast, were in the direct support slot. The band is friends with Front Bottoms from their hometown of New Jersey, though “band” might not be the correct word to describe these guys. Armed with a bass, drums and a laptop, B+M is 1 part motivational speaker, 2 parts performance art.  The band passed out balloons to free the audience of their mental anguish, tossed out inflatable aliens to act as out-of-this-world crowd surfers and performed the song “Dead Moon” dressed as the rockingest set of ghouls this side of the Spooky Scary Skeletons, all while trippy cartoons reminiscent of Spike and Mike’s Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation played on a screen behind them. Musically, they’re not my thing (what can I say, I need a little more melody) but as far as Aquabats meets Koo Koo Kanga Roo style stage antics? You could do a lot worse.

Finally, it was time for The Front Bottoms, making their long-awaited Vegas debut. The floor was now packed, impressive not just for an inaugural show but also because they were up against The 1975 at the Cosmo. (I’d make a “USA! USA!” reference, but if I had access to a time machine I’d be at both shows).

Now remember that playlist I mentioned earlier? I may have failed to disclose that there was a bit of a buffer to defuse expectations, as unneeded as it may have been. Celine Dion’s mother of all soft rock ballads – “My Heart Will Go On” – blared through the sound system before giving way to The Front Bottoms themselves, the band running on stage and launching right into “Skeleton” from 2013’s Talon of the Hawk. “I walk around like a skeleton last night / Trying to find my way home” sang frontman Brian Sella, though it was near impossible to hear over the sound of every single person on the Brooklyn Bowl floor shouting those lyrics back at the band. The mix of audience giddiness and hysteria was the type of reaction I thought was reserved for The Jackson 5 or, I don’t know, the Osmonds or something. It was pretty freaking cool.

Front Bottoms continued their set with minimal banter, letting the earnest and often wordy lyrics (think Say Anything meets AJJ) make up for the lack of canned jokes and “lost wages” references. And being on the floor as 1000+ fans sang their hearts out to a nice mix of the band’s three studio albums, including “The Beers,” “Flashlight,” “Peach” and “Cough it Out,” I began to feel like an emo/indie Billy Pilgrim, unstuck in time and revisiting my late teen years attending the shows of another acoustic guitar led band – Dashboard Confessional. Basically, it was awesome (or so it goes).

To my amazement, the band elicited a larger circle pit than NOFX, who I saw just a few days earlier. The bubbles blowing into the crowd and a light show designed to look like light rain combined with maybe a bit too many beers cause the floor to erupt, and it was quite impressive. And if you’ve been following these reviews then you already know that yes, it was a member of Rayner getting that pit twirling.

Things wrapped up half past 11 with a packed stage – two wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube men, more bubbles, more aliens and the return of the ghouled out Brick + Mortar guys – and “Twin Size Mattress,” giving everyone one last chance to sing along. “Oh, every night. Every night” echoed out with a promise from the band that this won’t be their only Vegas show and guys, I’m holding you to it.

-Emily Matview

Photos by Hunter Wallace | https://www.flickr.com/photos/hunter_wallace/