Texas is The Reason’s show at the Henry Fonda Theater last Saturday was their last show, ever, thus a very good reason to show up. A few months ago, the 90s post-hardcore band had announced a North America reunion tour and Los Angeles was their very last stop. And their story more than my musical experience with the band – I was definitively not listening to this kind of music in the 90s – raised my interest. Born from the hardcore scene, they are recognized as one of the founding bands of the ‘emo’ scene, although they only released one studio album, ‘Do You Know Who You Are?’, broke up after a gig at which major label A&R guys show up, and basically blew up a big contract with Capitol Records to preserve their integrity and friendship,… there’s something tragic and beautiful about a band breaking up after just one album, but you have to love this kind of attitude!
Over the years, they sure have built a loyal follow-up, and the Henry Fonda theater seemed quite packed on Saturday night, filled with fans eager to see a band which just played one-off reunion show in 2006, but had basically turned down other offers,… until 2013. A few months ago, they headlined two shows in New York and Chicago to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their label, Revelation Records, and soon embarked in a short tour.
The band didn’t show any tension or stress when they appeared just after 10 pm in front of a Christmas light garland. After the gentle melody of their title song ‘Do You Know Who You Are?’, the band jumped in the game with ‘Back and to the Left’, as if they were on a mission, occupying right away the full stage, and their stadium-sized sound delivered with a punk energy filled up the place for one hour and half. The next song, ‘The Magic Bullet Theory’, a direct reference to John F. Kennedy’s assassination, sprawled its sweeping harmonies giving some grandiosity to a certain sense of melancholy. Interestingly the name of the band is also a direct allusion to this same tragedy – it happened in Texas! – and the album was named after the last words than John Lennon presumably heard. Even for a so-called emo band, a double reference to two tragedies, which changed the world of music and politics, may have been a little too heavy to bear. The crowd was diverse, but mostly male, and obviously the young guys around me were barely toddlers in the 90s, so the whole show couldn’t have been just about nostalgia.
On stage, a blasting and exploding energy was present from start to finish, Norm Arenas on guitar, Garett Klahn on guitar and vocals and Scott Winegard on bass was moving in rolling waves while Chris Daly on drums was driving the tunes with a beastly fire. Almost all their songs had this anthemic potential, and Klahn’s powerful and emotional vocals were soaring over the chorus-free tunes, propelled by a violent passion embodied by these ringing-grating-booming guitars. However, there was nothing violent in their interaction with the crowd, Klahn was sipping his tea between songs, visibly happy and saying a few humble ‘Thank you’ or ‘There are a lot of old friends in the building’, fully aware that people had been waiting for this show for a very long time. The crowd was responding with enthusiasm when they were recognizing the beginning of a song, singing along, something I couldn’t share with them, but I found quite interesting that the band was able to play such a tight and high-energy with only a few shows behind them.
They basically played all the songs off the new expanded version of their album, recently re-issued with two previously unreleased songs added to the list.
‘We have two more songs for you, and there won’t be an encore’ declared Garett Klahn with a smile and some regret in his voice. I wonder what it must have been for them at this moment, toying with the idea of playing the last song of the last show… they ended with ‘Blue Boy’, which almost reminded me of the Smashing Pumpkins, and ‘A Jack With One Eye’ and left while people were still starring at the empty the stage for a few minutes. I bet many of them thought they would never be able to see Texas is the Reason live, but there was something so emo about a last show.
Setlist
Do You Know Who You Are?
Back and to the Left
The Magic Bullet Theory
Johnny On The Spot
When Rock 'N' Roll Was Just A Baby
Nickel Wound
Dressing Cold
There's No Way I Can Talk Myself Out Of This One Tonight (‘Drink’ on the setlist)
Something To Forget
Every Little Girl's Dream
If It's Here When We Get Back It's Ours
The Day's Refrain
Antique
Blue Boy
A Jack With One Eye