Brand New Conquered Madison Square Garden On Their Own Terms
In the early-00’s, Long Island emo was run by two bands: Taking Back Sunday and Brand New. You couldn’t talk about one without the other, regardless of the fact that they didn’t (and don’t) really complement one another; on the contrary, these bands hated each other, and for years. Brand New frontman Jesse Lacey was TBS’ bass player and left the band when Taking Back Sunday’s John Nolan hooked up with his girlfriend. You can’t make this stuff up—but you were expected to pick your allegiance to one band or the other.
In the fifteen years since the spark that started the battle, Taking Back Sunday has enjoyed immense success—a handful of Top 10 albums, the song “MakeDamnSure” skyrocketed into the mainstream—and yet, somehow, it is Brand New that won the war. TBS stayed consistent, never giving anyone a chance to miss them; Brand New left and returned with real weight, the kind that gets you to headline a sold-out Madison Square Garden 15 years after your biggest single, “Jude Law and a Semester Abroad.”
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