God bless New Jersey’s Titus Andronicus for doing what so many punk bands don’t dare do: write six-, seven-, sometimes even 14-minutes opuses. Songs like “The Battle of Hampton Roads” and “More Perfect Union” sound like they were written by Arcade Fire if Arcade Fire grew up listening to The Clash. Definitely recommended if you like The Pogues, Ted Leo and/or any other rollicking, guitar-driven, story-centric rock music that will make you want to drink and shout and feel and dance. Opening the show is A Giant Dog, from the Merge Records roster. That band’s latest, Pile, was produced by Mike McCarthy (the man who’s worked with Spoon, … And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead and Lee Ann Womack, not the Green Bay Packers coach), and it’s got some down-and-dirty guitar riffs paired with pop hooks in a way that recalls both the angst of the ’90s and the fun of the ’80s (and in the case of back-to-back tracks “Sex & Drugs” and “& Rock & Roll,” a fun injection of ’50s sounds). MEGAN SELING
Titus Andronicus w/A Giant Dog
