Manchester Orchestra @ Hawthorne Theatre

Manchester Orchestra are definitely an outlier band for me, which makes it a harder for me to write about them with confidence, even though I like almost every song off Mean Everything To Nothing. The first time I saw them live I'd never heard them before but I immediately latched on to a couples songs. Now seeing them again after enjoying their album, they are even more impressive. I can see why they inspire the crowd's fist pumping response. Their songs are packed with monster riffs, catchy choruses, and often play with loud/quiet and intimate/aggressive dichotomies. By crossing over they also provide a window into exploring my own taste limitations. It comes down to the sound of their guitars; their riffs are based in hard rock and metal, two genres I don't listen to much and which I associate with the radio stations I abandoned many years ago after failing to hear anything that grabbed me. It's exciting to listen to a band that makes those sounds engaging and enjoybale and makes me reevaluate my assumptions. While I don't plan listening to the radio ever again, I wonder how many other bands I've missed.