On September 27, I ventured out to see my favorite band, Tigers Jaw, at the nostalgic Chain Reaction in Anaheim, an all-ages venue that I have been frequenting since high school. I’ve seen many other of my favorite bands there such as Title Fight, Touché Amoré, and Pity Sex. It’s been five years since Tigers Jaw played at Chain Reaction, and as a long-time fan, I remember going to those exact two consecutive shows back in 2013. When Tigers Jaw announced in June that they would be doing a 10th-anniversary tour for their self-titled album, I immediately bought my ticket before it sold out.
Cave People were the first band to open up the night, and luckily for me, I managed to get a spot right at the front of the stage. The four-piece Philly band grabbed my attention with their mellow indie rock sound and they took me at surprised when they played a cover of The Smashing Pumpkins song “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” as a transition into the next song.
The second opener was The Sidekicks, a four-piece alternative band from Ohio, who previously released a split with Tigers Jaw back in 2011. This was probably the most energetic band of the night with air jumps in their stage performance and upbeat songs with crunchy guitar tones. Some songs from their set that hooked me into their music were “Hell Is Warm” and “Weed Tent.”
Finally, Tigers Jaw took the stage and played songs both old and new. They even played some more obscure songs like an alternative version of “Jimmy Piersall”, which appeared as an acoustic song on one of their singles. Of course, like at any Tigers Jaw show, there was plenty of crowd surfing and stage diving, even during the slower songs. Although I was pressed up against the stage and I had to duck my head for the occasional stage diver, nothing stopped me from singing along to all the songs and snapping photos on my camera, which miraculously made it out without getting broken.
After taking a quick break from the first half of the set, Tigers Jaw went back on stage to play the full-length in its entirety. This was probably the most intimate part of the show because, for many people like me, the Self-Titled is the most beloved album. They ended the show with “Plane vs Tank vs Submarine”, a song that is not only a fan favorite but is also the very song that made me a fan Tigers Jaw in the first place.
