Alkaline Trio

Alkaline Trio – Blood, Hair and Eyeballs Tour

Punk band, Alkaline Trio, played to a tightly packed, sold out crowd in Cleveland, Ohio at the historic Agora Theater and Ballroom on March 8th. The band is out supporting their 10th studio album, Blood, Hair and Eyeballs, which was released at the end of January.

***Matt Skiba, Alkaline Trio – Agora Theater, Cleveland, Ohio***

Alkaline Trio is in their 28th year and not showing any signs of slowing down. Contrary to singer / guitarist Matt Skiba’s comment of being surprised that the fans would hang around after the first few years he laminated the band’s appreciation of the nearly 2,000 fans that showed up to the evening’s event.

Fans had started lining up to the sold out show as early as noon, to secure a spot as close to the stage as possible. Once doors opened the merch table line was just as long and winding, with items selling out quickly. It seemed everyone in attendance had been looking forward to this show for quite some time.

The new album was only a few weeks old, yet there was not a soul in the Agora that evening that did not know every lyric to every song the band played. Having an extensive catalog of emo-punk fan favorites, they narrowed the setlist down to only 20. Fan favorites like, Stupid Kid and Fuck You Aurora were mixed in with new songs Hot For Preacher and Bad Time, seamlessly.

Alkaline Trio is currently Matt Skiba – guitar/singer, Dan Andriano – bass/singer and new to the trio, drummer Atom Willard. Despite having a few line up changes over the years have remained true themselves. Their style has not fluctuated like others often do to stay relevant in the ever changing music business. This, ironically, is most likely what keeps fans coming back for more.

Looking around the crowd you notice how Alkaline Trio has attracted fans from all walks of life, old and young, emo and punk, frat boys to goth girls, etc. It is worth mentioning as not many bands have that appeal , especially after all these years and albums.