NJ Music Festivals

2000s emo band The Academy Is… is currently on a comeback tour across the United States, celebrating 20 years of its debut record, “Almost Here.”

When the band was on the up and signed to Fueled by Ramen, “Almost Here” was not the biggest record of that era, but it was one of the smartest. Lead singer William Beckett’s vocals and lyricism stood out to many during that era, and two decades later, the band’s reunion feels earned.

Little Image

Little Image was easily the best opener I’d discovered all year. I was unaware of them prior to the show, but they were super impressive — think Cage the Elephant and Twenty-One Pilots. They’ll be headlining Starland on their own soon.

The Academy Is…

The Academy Is… had both new and old at this show. The band ripped through all ten songs from “Almost Here,” plus a few songs from their other two records: “Santi” and “Fast Times at Barrington High.”

On top of that, the band performed two unreleased songs from a record that is complete and ready to go. Along with “Miracle,” the band announced that “2005” will be releasing soon.

This was the band’s first time in New Jersey in ten years to the week: the band performed at Starland Ballroom on Dec. 10, 2015, on the “Almost Here” 10th anniversary tour. They had previously performed many Warped Tours, a couple of shows with KISS, and an acoustic pop-up at Macy’s in Paramus.

Setlist:

1. Attention
2. Season
3. Slow Down
4. The Phrase That Pays
5. Black Mamba
6. About a Girl
7. Miracle (unreleased)
8. Sleeping With Giants (Lifetime)
9. Skeptics and True Believers
10. Classifieds
11. Neighbors
12. Seed
13. 2005
14. Rumored Nights
15. Checkmarks
16. Down and Out
17. Almost Here
18. We’ve Got a Big Mess on Our Hands
19. After the Last Midtown Show

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