Sixteen Years Later and Worth the Wait: At The Drive In show The Fillmore how it’s done

For many people in last night’s sold-out crowd at The Fillmore, June 13th was a day they had been waiting sixteen years for. It had been that long since At The Drive In played a show in Philadelphia; many fans didn’t even get to see them before they broke up.

Back in January, the band announced its reunion and a full North American tour, with a handful of dates across the world. All original members were in tow last night – except guitarist Jim Ward, who was replaced shortly before the start of the tour with Sparta guitarist Keeley Davis.

At The Drive In is arguably one of most influential punk bands of all time. They have paved the way for hundreds of bands over the years. Last night at The Fillmore, they showed just how it’s done.  Frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala gave a jaw-dropping performance, swinging around a mic stand and jumping into the crowd during the band’s first song “Arcarsenal” – the intense album opener from 2000’s Relationship of Command. Later, he dedicated “Invalid Litter Dept.” to “everybody in Orlando, Florida that’s having a really fuckin’ rough time right now.”

“I’m not gonna lie, I’m the type of person who hears bits of news and says ‘oh, I hate this person, oh I hate that person.’ And then I remind myself, what kind of dad am I gonna be if I don’t practice tolerance?” he said. “Just fuckin’ love each other.”

The band’s performance was unbelievably tight. A lot of times with reunion tours, bands fall into the trap of going through the motions when preforming old material. This is definitely not the case with At The Drive In. Though the band did not preform any new songs during their show last night (it has stated that new material is on the way), it gave it their all for a setlist drawing mostly from Relationship while also featuring on 1998’s In/Casino/Out, 1999’s Vaya and the band’s 1996 debut Acrobatic Tenement. 

As I watched the smiling faces leave The Fillmore last night, I could only conclude that the sixteen-year wait was worth it.

Below, check out a gallery of photos, read the setlist and watch fan videos from the show.

Setlist
Arcarsenal
Pattern Against User
Sleepwalk Capsules
300 MHz
Proxima Centauri
Invalid Litter Dept.
Enfilade
198d
Pickpocket
Non-Zero Possibility
Cosmonaut
Quarantined
Napoleon Solo
Catacombs

Encore:
One Armed Scissor