"Tuned Into Pop Culture" guest contributor Nick Carrabine is a News-Herald staff writer.

Fresh off debuting in the top 10 on the billboard charts a day before the concert, Brand New took the stage to play songs off their new album Daisy (landed at #6 on the billboard charts, the band’s highest offering by far) for the first time ever as Cleveland was the first stop of their tour.

And what a night it was.

The tour, which also featured openers Manchester Orchestra, should have been dubbed “the least talkative tour” of 2009 as neither frontman for either band had much, if anything to say to the audience at any point during the concert. None of the other band members for either band uttered a word to anyone.

That didn’t stop either band from putting on top notch performances.

While the show was at Time Warner Cable Amphitheater at Tower City, it was considerably warmer than the Blink 182 show which was just a night before.

Manchester Orchestra, an indie rock band, took the stage at 7:45 p.m. I knew very little about them going into the show. I had checked out their MySpace page a few times and wasn’t blown away but felt they had potential to be a decent band to see live. Plus, they are good friends of Brand New and I had to trust their judgment.

Manchester played for about 40 minutes and it was time well spent. I’ve since purchased their newest album “Mean Everything to Nothing.”

But by 9 p.m., the place was turned upside down as Brand New took the stage, surprisingly jumping right into their old material as they opened with “You Won’t Know” and “Degausser” off 2006s The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me.

They didn’t play any material off the new album until the sixth song, “Vices.”

Looking uninterested and uninspired as usual, frontman Jesse Lacey wore a hooded sweatshirt and a winter hat mostly just looking at the ground and saying less than 40 words to the audience.

Despite his demeanor, the guy is as passionate about his music as any other frontman.

It’s probably a good thing he didn’t talk much as when he did it was just awkward trying to hold a conversation regarding the Cleveland Indians double header the day prior (“everyone looked so miserable at the game,” he said) and discussing the river (“You have a beautiful river, what is that, the Cleveland River?”)

A few things that bothered me, and this is nitpicking, is the set list was rather short at just 85 minutes. Not sure if that was due to the weather or just the fact it was the first night of the tour. I’m sure as the tour goes on, they’ll add a few more songs.

Also, as expected they completely ignored almost all material from their 2001 debut “Your Favorite Weapon,” by only playing one song off the album (thankfully the best one) “The No Seatbelt Song.”

They also didn’t play fan favorites, “The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows” (arguably their biggest hit) and their biggest sing along song, “Soco Amaretto Lime.”

All in all, it was one of the better shows I have seen in the past few years and Brand New, both lyrically and instrumentally, are way ahead of their peers.

Setlist:
You Won’t Know
Degausser
Okay I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don’t
Sic Transit Gloria...Glory Fades
The No Seatbelt Song
Vices
Gasoline
In A Jar
You Stole
Sowing Season (Yeah)
Archers
Jesus Christ
Jaws Theme Swimming
Sink
At The Bottom
Welcome to Bangkok
Play Crack The Sky (Lacey by himself)

"The No Seatbelt Song" Live in Cleveland


"At the Bottom" Live in Cleveland


"Play Crack The Sky" Live in Cleveland