Alkaline Trio

Alkaline Trio Had No Time To Waste In Buffalo, NY

Tuesday night Buffalo, NY was treated to the second leg of Alkaline Trio’s Blood, Hair and Eyeballs tour. Their tenth studio album of the same name was released earlier this year. The pop-punk three piece chaperoned the Los Angeles band Spanish Love Songs and sludge rockers Slomosa, from Norway.

As fans lined up eagerly awaiting Buffalo Riverworks to open for the event, many could be heard discussing the recent social media post made by founding member, Matt Skiba. Skiba, who also assumes the role of guitar player as well as one-half of the singing duties, had shared that two days prior he had suffered severe burns to his left hand. The news had some worried about how his injury would affect tonight’s show, as it was the first show since the incident. Surprisingly, Alkaline Trio had not cancelled the concert, though some worried they might.

The band hit the stage at their scheduled 9:30pm slot and did not waste any time getting to business. Skiba along with fellow members, co-vocalist and bass player, Dan Andriano and drummer, Atom Willard started the set off with Hot For Preacher off their latest release. They played the crowd favorites such as Mr. Chainsaw, Emma, and Armageddon. A nice surprise was the live performance of the instrumental Hinterlude, leading into Broken Down in a Time Machine, congruent with the track listing of the Blood, Hair and Eyeballs album.

Overall, their set was fast paced, when compared to other times I have seen them live, and I couldn’t help but wonder if that was due to Skiba’s hand injury. There was very minimal banter, however the band all seemed to be in good spirits. It was an unexpectedly rowdy crowd, especially given it was a Tuesday evening. Another thing I took note of was the lack of cellphones, leaving the crowd to be fully engaged, regardless of where you stood.

Most of 2024 has been jam-packed for the Trio, starting with an album release in January, North American tour that kicked off in February, a summer tour of Europe and then back state side for the most recent leg. It seems that Skiba, Andriano and Willard are very deserving off some time off after this very hectic and successful year; but with fans left with an insatiable appetite hopefully we will get more sooner rather than later.