Laura Jane Grace brought her new band, The Mississippi Medicals, to Crescent Ballroom in Phoenix, Az last week. A small but mighty supergroup, The Mississippi Medicals are made up of punk rock veterans and legends: Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! fame on lead guitar and vocals, Paris Campbell Grace on vocals, Matt Patton of Drive-By Truckers on bass, and Mikey Erg of The Ergs setting the pace on the drums. The Crescent was slow to fill, but the venue was near wall to wall full by the time they took to the stage and ripped into their first song. Snagging a peek at the set list as it was being taped down, it was obvious that the crowd was going to be in for a hell of a ride through Laura Jane Grace’s massive catalogue of music. The list was broken into two columns (almost neatly in half with “new” songs on one side and “Against Me!” era songs on the other. With nearly 30 songs adorning it, the list spanned over 23 years of musical output and album releases. There wasn’t much need for banter between Grace and the crowd; a there was an unspoken air of comradery between everyone present. Known for her anti-establishment music punk music, highly public transition in an often-times cruel industry, and outspoken political activism, Laura Jane Grace lets the music she’s written about her life experiences speak for itself and the crowd screams along in agreement to nearly every lyric, new and old.
For the first half of the night, they played The Mississippi Medicals first EP (Give An Inch, released late last year) almost in its entirety (“Hoka Hoka” in particular was a stand out and was preluded by a quick story from Laura about the time she tried going running in Phoenix during a prior tour stop, during the day, in the middle of May, which brough waves and laughter and cringes of commiseration from the crowd), and accompanied it with standout tracks from 2018’s Bought to Rot (“Manic Depression”), 2024’s Hole In My Head (a heart-rending “Give Up The Ghost”, “I’m Not A Cop”, and others), 2020’s Stay Alive (show opener “The Swimming Pool Song”, “SuperNatural Posession”). Transitioning into the second half of the set, The Mississippi Medicals dove headlong into the Against Me! catalogue. Most in the crowd are intimately familiar with the Against Me! discography, and they turned the volume, fun, and mosh pits to well above full power as Laura Jane Grace aptly (and with a sly grin) launched into “T.S.R. (This Shit Rules)” off of 2003’s As The Eternal Cowboy to kick off the second half of the evening. This was followed by (non-exhaustively): “Pints of Guinness Make You Strong” and “Walking Is Still Honest” off of 2002’s seminal folk punk album Reinventing Axel Rose, “I Was A Teenage Anarchist” off 2010’s White Crosses, and “Black Me Out” off 2014’s Transgender Dysphoria Blues. Laura Jane Grace and The Mississippi Medicals ended the night strong with a trio of Against Me! classics that had the crowd surfing, moshing, and practically crawling on stage: “Don’t Lose Touch”, “Sink Florida Sink” and “Thrash Unreal”. The night wasn’t billed as a “greatest hits” night, but you would never have known that by the fever of the crowd. When Laura Jane Grace accidently began singing “The Ocean” out of order (second verse first) and the band stopped dead to restart, the crowd just went along with and sang the rest of the song without the band. No beat or words missed, the band just laughed and jumped in, playing it through and then restarting when they hit the end. It was a moment of levity and reinforced the ferocity with which all in attendance fervently loves Laura Jane Graces music and lyrics. it was obvious that not a person in the crowd wanted the night to end, and for an hour and a half, the rest of the world slipped away while Laura Jane Grace and The Mississippi Medicals administered a much needed medicinal dose of punk rock catharsis for all.
