Concert Review: Laura Jane Grace Brings a Powerful Energy to Denver on New Year’s Eve

Trans punk legend Laura Jane Grace blew into Denver’s Marquis Theater on New Year’s Eve to ring in the new year, as well as to further celebrate her recent marriage to Brooklyn-based stand up comedian Paris Campbell who was along to work merch on the tour. According to Grace, she was returning to Denver to reverse a curse because, the last time she came to Denver to ring in the New Year with her band, Against Me!, it was to welcome in the beginning of 2020 and, a few months later, the entire world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hoping she could possibly ring in a better year for 2024, the punk icon came with trans Americana artist Mya Byrne and had additional support by local feminist punk band Cheap Perfume, making for the perfect way for a queer punk to start off 2024.

Cheap Perfume is a band I’ve seen several times before and have always been impressed with. Frontperson Stephanie Byrne, much like every other time I’ve seen them perform, insisted on performing without pants on, which is a strangely badass way to establish your stage presence. With songs about rape culture, punching Nazis, and hating men (which is satire, as the band has two men in it) Cheap Perfume are a leftist powerhouse. They brought all of their usual fire and fury and—unlike last year when they opened for The Bouncing Souls on New Year’s Eve and they were flipped off by about half of the men in the audience—this was a crowd that was very receptive to the messages the band was bringing.

Mya Byrne (there were a lot of Byrnes that night) was an artist I was less familiar with, and I can’t say that americana is my favorite genre in the world, but, like everything, it means a bit more coming from a queer artist. Mya Byrne proved herself to be a talented guitarist and a powerful songwriter, and even launched into a cover of one of my few beloved country-rock tunes, “Ohio” by Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young. Even though her music isn’t a genre I’m all that big on, Mya Byrne made me want to check out more of her music after that outstanding performance.

Finally, Laura Jane Grace took the stage, not with a band, but alone with an acoustic guitar. At first, I was a little skeptical that Grace alone would be able to put on much of a performance, but somehow she managed to pull off my favorite of the many, many performances I’ve seen from her. Despite being a solo artist, with her band Against Me! being on indefinite hiatus, Grace performed a set almost entirely made up of Against Me! songs.

Opening on “True Trans Soul Rebel,” Grace commented on how good the crowd was at singing along with her songs, and joked that she was going to reward the crowd with old songs if they kept singing and punish them with new stuff if they stopped. She kept her promise as, at one point during the show, a fight broke out in the audience and Grace abruptly stopped playing the classic Against Me! song “Jordan’s First Choice” and switched over to an unreleased track called “Fuck You (Just Because),” which isn’t even from her upcoming album Hole in My Head that comes out in February.

In fact, Grace played very little off of the upcoming album, playing only the title track and the unreleased track “I’m Not a Cop.” She explained at the top of the show that she would be performing without a set list, and instead just play whatever the spirit moved her to play. Even her other solo material was mostly left out of the set, with “The Swimming Pool Song” being all that she played off of Stay Alive and playing nothing off of At War With the Silverfish, Bought to Rot, or Heart Burns.

Every Against Me! album was represented, save for the band’s highly underrated last album, Shape Shift With Me. But, considering that Grace recently got married again, it’s understandable that she didn’t particularly feel like playing songs from the album she wrote about her divorce. As for her new wife, Campbell came up on stage to kiss her new wife and crowd surf for the first time in her life at midnight. It’s clear that Grace’s fans have already taken a liking to the artist’s new spouse.

Grace didn’t really leave the stage after what she claimed to be her final song, “I Was a Teenage Anarchist,” and simply took her guitar off and put it back on to indicate the encore. She played the Against Me! b-side track “500 Years” by request for someone who was proposing to their partner in the crowd (they said yes, apparently) and finished off with “Two Coffins” and “Walking is Still Honest.”

Laura Jane Grace has another tour planned for the spring where she’ll be backed by bassist Matt Patton and drummer Mikey Erg which will likely be a bit more structured and feature more of Grace’s solo material. Still, while those shows may be getting a fuller band, I doubt they could match the spirit and energy of Grace solo on New Year’s Eve. She announced on stage that the Marquis Theater is welcome to book Against Me! for next New Year’s Eve, meaning that Grace seems hopeful about reuniting her band, or at least felt hopeful about it in that moment. Whether or not an Against Me! reunion is really in the cards remains to be seen, especially as drummer Atom Willard was recently announced as the new permanent drummer for Alkaline Trio. But regardless, this was a night that anyone in attendance is sure to remember.