Election Day didn't go so hot for some people, but my Election Day was freaking awesome and let me explain why. This year marked Brand New's 10th anniversary of their album, 'The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me,' thus leading to a 10th anniversary US tour of the rock/post-hardcore band playing said album in its entirety plus more. For this special tour, Brand New asked indie rock bands Modern Baseball and The Front Bottoms to accompany them; Modern Baseball being their opener. And where did they end up on November 11, 2016 (a.k.a Election Day)? Well, none other than Bon Secours Wellness Center located in Greenville, South Carolina. How convenient!

The show began at 7:00 P.M., but doors opened an hour earlier...but, if you know anything about concerts, the key thing to do is to show up early if you want a pretty rad spot. So, yours truly showed up about three and a half hours early and wound up being one of the first 20 people to get inside. My seat was pretty great considering I got a lower-bowl seat since the floor was sold out by the time I decided I'd actually go to this show or not. And I'm thrilled with my decision, especially with the headliner, Brand New, potentially breaking up in 2018 with the uncertainty of if they will tour again...

The best thing about this show? It started on time...scratch that...it actually started a couple minutes before 7:00 P.M. Modern Baseball, an American rock band spawning from Pennsylvania, opened the show.

I'm not too big on Modern Baseball, I know a few songs, but not enough to be able to sing along and rock out. But the songs I did know such as "Your Graduation" and "I Don't Mind" and "The Weekend," you best believe I was up and singing along. The only downfall to their set was that, I swear, they did not introduce themselves. I mean, it would've been lovely, since I'm not too terribly familiar with them, to know that it was them and not just assume. Sure, they mentioned it later in the set, but still. Overall, they did pretty grand. Their set theme was plain, but it worked.

Next came The Front Bottoms, an indie rock band from New Jersey.

Not going to lie, last year I started listening to The Front Bottoms and their music is lyrically and instrumentally fantastic. It has the raw, real-life emotional status as well as the more silly, not-so-serious songs; the versatility is what makes this band pretty impressive. From the moment they started with "Skeleton" until they left the stage after "Twin Sized Mattress", I was up and dancing and singing along. Their set was pretty bomb too; it was set up like a living room campsite complete with blanket fort and multiple lamps that was synchronized with the beats. Totally ideal for this band. Towards the end of their set during the song "Swimming Pool," the lead, Brian Sella, paused to yell at some people on the floor front barricades; apparently a fight broke out to which he jumped in to stop it. I thoroughly enjoyed this band's set from beginning to end and would definitely want to see them again live.

Finally came the band I have been wanting to see for years: Brand New.

There are really no words to describe this band who originated in New York and debuted their first album in 2001, 15 years ago. Their emotion is a mixture of sadness and f**k you and everything in between; their songs hit hard with emotion and they're fantastic. They also provide a grand mixture of story-telling via both clean vocals and instrumentals as well as screams and soul-snatching instrumentals. Even though they did not play my favourite oldy-but-goldy by them, "Seventy Times Seven," they did play another original oldie called "Mixtape," it wasn't the same but it was something... Next came a favourite of mine "Sic Transit Gloria...Glory Fades," which was amazing; the message behind it is pretty bomb so I highly recommend you listen to it. Ah and when "The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot" played...whoah. But when the tune for "Jesus/Jesus Christ" began, the crowd went nuts. That song is eerily good and I love it. "Millstone," "Luca," and "Limousine" were also more favourites from the 10th anniversary album that I thoroughly enjoyed and rocked out. Sorry to the dude beside me who I accidentally kept stepping on his feet from all my jumping...oops. But their set, oh my their set theme, was insane. They had like four televisions set up behind them which portrayed videos and loops which changed for each song and a killer lighting display. Their usage of visuals made their set that much better, not that it wasn't already amazing by itself.

All in all, I was definitely not disappointed in my choice of how I spent Election Day. I'm so glad I decided to go this show; it was definitely worth the trip and the ticket money. To The Front Bottoms, I'll be seeing y'all again the next time y'all mosey over to the southeast. And to Brand New, I really hope you guys decide to tour again before you break up...if you break up (please don't break up!)...because I'd love to see another kick-ass set from y'all. And with that, 'The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me,' and great music running through my ears, that night was tallied up as a success.