A week with Fifteen Fleeting culminated with a blistering set at Maxwell's in Hoboken Saturday night. The band sold out the standing room only venue that also saw the official release of their latest collection of music, "Signals From an Empty Room." The band was explosive in their first appearance at the venue since their debut EP release nearly a year ago. You could feel the energy from the crowd, and Fifteen Fleeting pulled out all the stops in what may have been their most solid live set ever.
Opening with an instrumental jam that led into a newly anointed crowd favorite, "If It's Alright," they sounded tight right out of the gate. They then treated the loyal fans to one of their older tunes "Alive," which rocks about as hard as anything in their catalog and lets singer/guitarist Vinny Belcastro, lead guitarist Dan Rodriguez, bassist Mike Petzinger, and drummer Scott Petzinger show off their hard rock chops dutifully. This was followed by three of their "Signals From an Empty Room" numbers, "This Time," an epic rendition of "The Only," and the bluesy superhero love number "Man of Tomorrow."
Fifteen Fleeting then gave the crowd their first of four amazing covers of the night, with "All Along the Watchtower." This is one they've mastered in more recent shows, that they've managed to give fresh life to. Fifteen Fleeting's rendition plays at the tempo of Bob Dylan's original version, infused with the guitar blitzkrieg of Jimi Hendrix's definitive version, creating F.F.'s stamp on the classic rock tune. "Torn In Two" is another older song from their days as Trust that fits the band naturally and has helped define their musical identity so far; it sounds great on record and explodes even more so in concert.
The loyal crowd was then treated to a sentimental new tune "In Your Arms," which went over well, and brought them into some conversation with the crowd who has been there with them from their beginnings to their career pinnacle thus far, playing 2007's Bamboozle music festival at Giants Stadium. This led nicely into their next cover of "The Middle," by a band they shared the stage with at Bamboozle, Jimmy Eat World.
Singer Vinny Belcastro playfully urged the crowd to take their lighters out during their ballad, "Among a Million." A great surprise addition to this number was the band being joined onstage by Chris Klaus on violin, who also played on the album version. This really showed everyone in the audience that night how far the band has come in such a short period of time; filling up the room, everyone singing along to their songs, and being joined onstage by guest musicians. This also gave the band a different, somewhat fuller sound, with Belcastro manning the acoustic guitar along to Rodriguez's electric.
Their rock n' roll saga "A Just Perspective," is a song I think their audience will appreciate more in time as they listen to the album a few times, but they got the crowd into its mounting buildup and heavy riffs. Following this, Fifteen Fleeting had a pleasant surprise up their sleeves. Their cover of The Beatles' "Come Together," looked to be one of the band's crowning moments onstage in their budding career so far. The band and the crowd were on fire, and they rocked the hell out of the classic fab four number. It also gave ample spotlight to talented six-stringed bassist Mike Petzinger, who sometimes goes unnoticed but never unheard among the shining onstage personas of bandleaders Belcastro and Rodriguez. Where the sometimes underrated George Harrison was known as the "Quiet Beatle," it was fitting that the "Quiet Fleeter" had shone brightly during the Beatles number. They gave the crowd full reign as they let loose the iconic "One and one and one is three..."
"Streetlamp Limelight" followed, widening the eyes of a crowd in awe that this seemingly small time group can still pull off such groundbreaking sounds and studio techniques so seamlessly when playing live. Where Mike Petzinger tore up the Beatles cover his brother, drummer Scott Petzinger took a stranglehold of Fifteen Fleeting's final cover of the night. One might think pouring gasoline and setting fire to such a late 1980's pop number as Madonna's "Like A Prayer" would make about as much sense as a Britney Spears better parenting seminar, but the members of Fifteen Fleeting turned a risky move into an ultimate triumph. They spun "Like a Prayer" into a hard rock opus and Scott Petzinger's drums eluded to such techniques seen on U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday," or Franz Ferdinand's "Take Me Out."
The final two numbers gave a nice bookend to the evening. "A Little Change" is a song that defined them in their beginnings and could be labeled conductor on the freight train that got them from their humble start to a huge stage at Bamboozle. The band slips into this song like an old pair of jeans and they always make sure the crowd is singing along with them. At the end of this tune, Fifteen Fleeting gives us all a great taste of the talents in this four piece as a musical powerhouse. They've grown confident allowing their highest output of energy and musical freedom which is hard to miss such an intimate venue. Since it was a night of celebration in the release of their new CD, the band ended it rightfully with the title track, "Signals From An Empty Room." This was an ironic ending, as this room was nowhere near empty and the band could have played all night at this point feeding off their own energy as much as the audience's. Whatever wasn't spent up on their previous 16 numbers, they laid out on the stage for this one. This gave the band a chance to relish the moment once more and if smoking hadn't been banned in New Jersey bars, a match could have set the whole room on fire; that's how explosive this ending was. With a performance that far exceeded the small price of admission, Fifteen Fleeting should be filling a lot more venues very soon as they continue to build a reputation as one of the area's rising rock bands.
As the buzzing crowd poured out to the bar for drinks among the unlucky ones who didn't make it in to the show, a clueless young woman approached me asking if I was there to see Fastball play later on that night. I nearly laughed when I said that I wasn't, and even if I had tickets, why would I? I had just seen the best rock n' roll show west of the Hudson this weekend.
Set List:
1. Intro Jam
2. If It's Alright
3. Alive
4. This Time
5. The Only
6. Man Of Tomorrow
7. All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan Cover)
8. Torn In Two
9. In Your Arms
10. The Middle (Jimmy Eat World Cover)
11. Among a Million (w/guest Chris Klaus-violin)
12. A Just Perspective
13. Come Together (Beatles Cover)
14. Streetlamp Limelight
15. Like a Prayer (Madonna Cover)
16. A Little Change
17. Signals From an Empty Room
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