Laura Jane Grace: An 1120 Press Punk Rock Concert Review (6/17 Electric City)

(EDITOR'S NOTES — When Laura Jane Grace played Buffalo's Electric City, 1120 Press writer and photographer Jare Curtis had press access. Below are Jare's photos and thoughts on that powerful night. Be sure to see the gallery too at the bottom of this page.)

It was a busy Tuesday night in mid-June, humid but not too hot, at least for downtown Buffalo. There was a sweaty and passionate Screamo debut by Sostre! happening at Amy’s Place, so the scene was out in full force up in the Heights, but also down in the city’s Theater District too — Laura Jane Grace was in town. The Against Me! frontwoman and well-known trans-punk singer was just wrapping up her headline tour for the summer, and Buffalo punks came out for her in full force.

Grace, well-known for coming out as a transgender woman in 2012, a decade-and-a-half after first starting her incredibly famous anarchist punk band as a teenager. Four years later, she released her autobiography, ‘Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout,’ which quickly became one of the most famous titles in the literary scene of music memoir.

Within the past five years, Laura has enjoyed the launch of a critically and fan-acclaimed solo career, one that has garnered new fans and rallied old ones, leading into her big and bold punk rock roots while adding a distinctive singer/songwriter and folk-punk tinge to her sound and writing. The newer songs, on the whole, are still plenty anthemic, biting, and cutting, while providing a little bit of a deeper cut of introspective reflection. Most recently, she’s been a “darling” of the conservative pundit right, having debuted a new single, ‘Your God (God’s Dick),’ a hilarious and poignant track about the ways that the conservative-image Christian God that some believe in is used as a weapon to repress marginalized people. That song, which has been a recent success, comes as a single off her upcoming album, Adventure Club, which drops July 18.

This most recent tour for Grace saw her lineup as a Who’s-Who of punk and indie rock collaborators — of course, her wife, Paris Campbell Grace, with her distinctive sometimes growly, sometimes high-flying holler on backing vocals, as well as New Jersey punk hero Mikey Erg (The Ergs!, Star Fucking Hipsters, The LLC from The Chris Gethard Show, others,) and bass powerhouse King Mike (Screaming Females, Garbage, Dauber, The Straps). With a band of so many talented working musicians and artists in their own right, with so many veterans of DIY punk art, going into the show felt a lot cozier and homier than a big, corporate venue like Electric City could provide — but that’s seemed to be the case with a lot of the shows the new venue has put in their lineup.

Leading into the night was New York City post-punk outfit Pons, and Lansing queer indie punk rock band Rodeo Boys, two up-and-coming acts that have really made a splash in online circles the past couple years, and seeming to find the balance in Bandcamp, Instagram, and TikTok for both of their respective needs. Pons is a heavy hitter with high energy, holding nothing back, while Rodeo Boys created a sultry and boppy atmosphere that could repeatedly be cut through with a more restless energy, both setting the stage for Laura Jane Grace to split the difference directly down the middle. And boy, did she do that.

There was a lot of excitement in that room that night, a wide mix of folks of a lot of different ages and backgrounds, and together to revel in old and new tunes from an artist that had touched their lives in a lot of different individual ways. Crust punks, families, teens, local activists, and all the intersections in between showed up- and between them, knew every word from every song.

For her part, Laura was a beacon of fearsome energy. Her ringing tenor pieces like a knife, through a roaring barrage of powerful guitar and bass. The marriage, both literally and figuratively, of Paris and Laura’s two vocal deliveries adds so much warmth and texture, particularly to the older tracks from some of the Against Me!, Mississippi Medicals, and Devouring Mothers discographies. The rhythm section in every song popped and weaved through that sonic space; the drumming was very tom and hi-hat heavy, giving a lot of space for bass groove to fill out the bottom end.

From the very beginning of the set, the crowd was ready to move. A joyful push pit broke out almost right away, but once the more anthemic songs broke out — I Was a Teenage Anarchist, Transgender Dysphoria Blues, Baby, I’m An Anarchist — arms were high in the air, voices held even higher, feet and bodies colliding in every chorus.

Laura and Paris were rocketing over the whole scene, and the room felt so warm,

loving, and solid, with just a little bit of collective rage. In that big corporate venue, there was a sense of community: a lot of different folks, from different spheres in our local community, came together to revel in the joy of a shared special artist.

That unity is so important. It gives us something to rally around, and something to fight for. There are only a few other artists that come to mind from outside our community that seem to rally folks like that, and Laura Jane Grace certainly is one of them. Here’s to her coming back soon.