A celebration was had in Philadelphia at the Theatre of Living Arts on June 30th. Hometown musicians Anthony Green and Good Old War both celebrated their debut albums turning 10 years old by playing each in full to a sold out crowd. The tour, which has Found Wild, Good Old War, and Anthony Green, is a traveling family band, so to speak. for each band has played on the other’s album in some form. Having know each other for more than 10 plus years, this tour might be the best family reunion.
Opening the tour is Keith Goodwin and Tim Arnold, of Good Old War, as Found Wild. Keith and Tim have been playing together since Days Away, but Found Wild isn’t performing songs from their old band, instead Found Wild is a new band created by Tim. The sound is similar to Good Old War, but with more of a country vibe and less folky. For Philadelphia, this was the duo’s second show ever and with only one song released at the time the new music seem to win the crowd over. Tim was front of the stage taking on vocal duties and piano while Keith stood off to the side singing backing vocals and guitar. The last song of their set was their first single, “Nothing Gold Can Last”, and everyone on the tour came out to help, which was just a taste of what was to come for the evening. Found Wild’s debut album is set to release in July and can be pre-ordered below. If you enjoy anything Tim and Keith have put out, this is just another one to add to the collection.
https://www.facebook.com/thefoundwild/
Good Old War played their critically acclaimed debut album Only Way To Be Alone next. 10 years ago this album was released and 10 years ago I was about to finish college. When this album came out I was still a huge Days Away fan, and was hoping for more material. However, when Days Away announced their break up, from the ashes Keith and Tim started Good Old War with sometimes Days Away guitar tech Dan Schwartz. Being young and naive, when I first heard Good Old War I thought this doesn’t sound like Days Away. Granted, the album was good, but I wanted Days Away part two. A stupid way to look at music, and I own up to it. I think during everyone’s late teens/early twenties we are still trying to navigate through our tastes. Regardless I kept the c.d., yes I bought c.d.’s still, and also the girlfriend at the time was in love with it. Fast forward to May of 2009, and I was graduating college and leaving those years behind me. I had my car packed, said my goodbyes, and que’d music for my ride back to Bethlehem, PA from Immaculata University. No matter who you are, what job you have lined up, when you spend those 4 years in college or high school and it ends, you get those scary thoughts of, “well, now what?.” Up until this point I/you are most likely cradled and now it is time to take on more responsibility. As I drove the PA turnpike, I decided to play Good Old War’s Only Way To Be Alone. It is hard to pinpoint what song made the album click for me, but while driving home that album helped me realize everything was going to be alright. The album became a milestone for me and ever since then I’ve been following Good Old War the same way I followed Days Away. For this show in Philadelphia, all the feelings came back to me when I was finishing school. It was a good feeling, not emotional, but a feeling of I’ve come a long way (no pun intended) and nice to revisit those memories. The guys of Good Old War played the album front to back without any breaks and executed it perfectly. Even though most of the songs are in their regular setlists, it was great to see it played straight through. Also Anthony Green came out and sang on “Weak Man”, which doesn’t happen very often. Good Old War’s music has become a soundtrack to a point in time of my life, like many other bands, but I never thought they would’ve. That’s the thing with music and life, sometimes things take a while and when we least expect it it all makes sense. I can say Good Old War taught me that, and I am grateful they exist.
Joined by the men of Good Old War and bassist Brendan Ekstrom of Circa Survive, Anthony Green jumped right into Avalon and instantly the audience was screaming every word with no stopping throughout the whole set. Avalon was Anthony Green’s first album into his solo career, which then sparked many others. After leaving Saosin and forming Circa Survive, an artist like Anthony Green can produce a lot of material and needs an output for it. Just like his other bands, his solo material would go on to be just as prolific and the crowd for the Philadelphia show was proof enough. After performing Avalon, Anthony Green did an encore of “Lustration” from Circa Survive and two new songs from his latest surprise release solo album Would You Still Be In Love. With his family in attendance and some of his greatest fans, Philadelphia gave Anthony Green one of the best hometown shows.
https://www.anthonygreenmusic.com/
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