With the release of their major-label debut, New Wave,
this past summer, Against Me! sought to broaden their musical scope while
simultaneously leaving a big ugly scar on the face of the music industry. If
Saturday night's show at the Majestic Theatre is any example, this four-piece
outfit from Gainesville, Fla., is certainly succeeding on all fronts.

The evening began with the punk styling of Cobra Skulls, a
band with a sound similar to Against Me!'s earlier work. While generally
well-received by the audience, they were merely an appetizer for the
seven-course meal that was yet to come.

Following Cobra Skulls, the World/Inferno Friendship Society
crowded the stage with their nine-person band hailing from Brooklyn, N.Y. A surprised
welcomed by all in attendance, the eclectic World/Inferno's sound can best be
described as the aftermath of a three-car pileup involving a punk band, a jazz
trio and a cabaret outfit, with The Hold Steady's Franz Nicolay thrown in on
accordion for good measure.

Next on the bill was underground hip-hop hero Sage Francis.
With a sound comparable to Atmosphere or Brother Ali, only more political and
metaphorical, Sage's sound left those who thought they were coming to a punk
show scratching their heads. Following a few tracks, Sage's mastery on the mic
won the crowd over as he blazed through cuts from several of his albums and
featured samples from the likes of Van Halen, Nirvana and Nine Inch Nails.

Since signing to a major label and having their latest
release overseen by super-producer Butch Vig, Against Me! have taken flak from
punk fans everywhere claiming they sold out. However, even the loudest of
naysayers would have been silenced as Against Me! exuded more energy during
their hourlong set than most bands do in their entire career.

Taking the stage in front of a simple black backdrop and
standard white lights, Against Me! opened with their call to arms against the
bloated, monotonous drivel currently being pumped through the FM waves in New
Wave's title track. The
already frenzied audience just got crazier when they followed that with perhaps
their most beloved song, "Pints of Guinness Makes You Strong" from their 2002
debut LP, Reinventing Axl Rose.

Cultivating the energy they built in their first few songs,
the first half of the show smartly presented the band's faster, more
confrontational material including "Cliche Guevara" and "From Her Lips To God's
Ears (The Energizer)." Sensing the crowd's fatigue after nonstop moshing for 20
minutes, the band slowed things down with a very well-received rendition of the
lead single off New Wave, "Thrash Unreal."

The crowd's rest was short-lived, however, as Tom Gabel and
company followed that with their frantic protest song, "White People For
Peace." Even the flanks of the audience were not spared from the mosh pit as
they proceeded through "Problems," from 2005’s Searching For A Former
Clarity, and "Sink Florida Sink," which found an eager audience singing
along.

Against Me! wrapped up their first set with the final song
off New Wave, the seminal track, "The Ocean." The surrealistic, dreary
song translated perfectly in the live setting which found the band extending
the breakdown after the first two verses before the track's climatic finish.

If the audience had one complaint against the band's first
set, it would have been that they only played one song off what most punk
purists consider their best album, Reinventing Axl Rose. That was
quickly remedied after a short encore break which found frontman Tom Gabel
returning to the stage solo to lead the crowd in a sing-along of "Baby, I'm An
Anarchist."

Trading his signature Rickenbacker guitar for an acoustic
for the duration of the encore, Gabel was joined by the rest of the band as
they dusted off one of their oldest tracks, "What We Worked For," from 2001’s Crime
EP. The evening came to a close with one of Reinventing Axl Rose's
more anthemic tunes, "Walking Is Still Honest."

As the tired, hoarse and bruised crowd slowly exited the
Majestic Theatre, those in attendance all agreed that Against Me! and their
openers provided one of the best, most well-rounded shows in recent Madison
history.

In staying attached to their aggressive, confrontational
roots while simultaneously broadening their musical horizons, Against Me! seek
to bring their sound to a larger listening population that has been inundated
with prepackaged uninteresting sludge for too long. In ridding their music of
this waste, Against Me! are staying true to the original punk ideals that have
been so warped over the years and remain one of the most interesting and unique
acts in music today.