November 15, 2005

Subpar Promise Ring Show

Jamie Murnane writes about a recent Promise Ring reunion show.

Throughout the 60-minute set, singer/guitarist Davey von Bohlen was the only band member who showed any enthusiasm. And while drummer Dan Didier and bassist Scott Schoenbeck occasionally showed a glimmer of interest, guitarist Jason Gnewikow was far removed, literally and figuratively, making the entire band seem like strangers who’d just been thrown together to do a Promise Ring tribute show rather than the real thing.

9 Responses to “Subpar Promise Ring Show”

  1. On 11/15/05 10:12 AM, dake said:

    this doesn’t really surprise me. the whole “let’s forget that we’re broken up and play a show” thing always seems weird to me.

  3. On 11/15/05 10:49 AM, Mark b. said:

    what they don’t tell you is that The Smoking Popes reunion show the night before lived up to its hype without a problem.

    They also don’t tell you about the very good band Make Believe that opened for the Promise Ring. Who are worth checking out. They are members of Joan of Arc in a different styled band. Some of them were in a band called Cap’n Jazz who the singer of The Promise Ring used to be in.

    My point being these bands are connected (which can be fun to make the connections) and Make Believe is very good.

  5. On 11/15/05 10:10 PM, alan said:

    I heard promise ring was alright..I heard they opened with “is this thing on.”

    Now, I love Cap’n Jazz and Joan of Arc (to a lesser extent, of course) but i heard that make believe wasnt all that grand…maybe i should get a second opinion.

  7. On 11/15/05 10:49 PM, dake said:

    a) make believe blows. b) joan of arc REALLY, REALLY blows. c) owls blows. american football blows. owen blows. cap’n jazz sorta blows. you may have guessed i’m not really a fan of the kinsella (or kinsellas, if that’s how they’re spelling it this week) boys.

  9. On 11/16/05 10:56 AM, Mark b. said:

    well right. if you don’t like the kinsella boys you won’t like them and think they blow. People either love ‘em or hate em’.

    if you love cap’n jazz and like joan of arc you will probably have some enjoyment of Make Believe. But don’t let me tell you or anyone else tell you what to think…just go listen yourself.

  11. On 11/16/05 1:58 PM, Curtis said:

    Ok, so the owls are amazing, I really love A Portable Model of… by Joan of Arc and I like The Promise Ring. I just though I should add that in seeing that this has just truned into weither or not we like the bands in the first place rather than a comment on the quality of the performance. [I guess you can tell by my comments that I really do like the Kinsellas (or however they've always spelled it) boys].

    Straight up mark b. “[dake, you should] go listen to yourself”

  13. On 11/16/05 2:45 PM, Mark b. said:

    Well if you would like to talk about the quality of the performance … well I didn’t go, but my buddy who did said that it was good and Davey looked like he was having just a fantastic time. Apparently my friend didn’t like the crowd (or the Metro) for the most part, but that wasn’t a surprise.

    Actually i was saying Alan should listen for himself. I think Dake has his mind made up.

  15. On 11/16/05 7:13 PM, brandon said:

    That’s disappointing. American Football is great. Loser.
    American Girls.

  17. On 11/19/05 2:35 AM, Kingspider said:

    I was at the show and thought that it was great. Even when the Promise Ring was originally together, Jason was never much of an onstage presence as much as a great guitar player. Their set was flawless with no time wasted. My favorite part was that they played the first two songs off their first album. As for the openers, Tristeza were wonderful as they always have been, and Make Believe were great until Tim decided to try and turn the show into a public political discussion. 9.5/10

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