Concert Review: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros Rock St. Anne’s Trinity In BK

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros take over St. Anne’s Trinity in Brooklyn, With Uncertainty Abound

It’s fitting that a band like Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros would play at a venue with an equally long name. Then again, St. Anne’s and the Holy Trinity Church may not be your typical venue. With the largest number of Brooklyn millennials ever assembled in church together, complete with Sixpoint beer, The Magnetic Zeros played the entirety of their new album PersonA on Wednesday April 6th.

But surrounding the performance, and maybe even echoing off the arched ceiling and walls, were many moments of uncertainty and several questions:  Would the band play “Home?”  Who were these opening guys anyways?  If they are playing an album in its entirety, who will their encore song be?  And last but not least: What on earth were we supposed to do with these?

Turns out we never used the masks, which were handed out upon entry, and only some of those questions were answered.  So, here’s what we do know:

Having a performance in a church automatically makes the audience the nicest people ever.

Let’s face it:  Going to a show and having to sit next to strangers makes New Yorkers uncomfortable, especially when you can’t implement the “New York Space.”  But tonight, due to the space, and maybe the beer, the audience was more gracious than ever:  “Come on in, the water’s warm!”  They even cheered on the openers with reckless abandon.  Speaking of the openers…

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros gave a guy named Dan the night of his life.

Three unknown openers, two who only went by first names, performed open mic style to warm up the crowd.  One of them, Dan, or Dan the Man as he was eventually named by the audience, was brought back on stage during the Magnetic Zeros performance and as he played guitar, Alex and crew wrote a song about him.  When it was unclear that the Magnetic Zeros would have an encore, the enthusiastic crowd started changing “Dan! Dan! Dan!” instead.   Speaking of encores …

When you play an album in its entirety you can still have an encore…

….but it won’t be “Home.” Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros are probably most well known for their hit “Home,” and in it, we have the pleasure of listening to lead singer Jade Castrinos.  That “Jade, Alexander” trade off, along with her subsequent laughter, is one of the best romantic moments in the history of pop music.  But don’t expect to hear “Home” any time soon:  Jade was kicked out / asked to leave / parted ways / “insert other theory here” with the band back in 2014.  So, don’t expect to hear “Home” on any upcoming performances in support of their new album.  Speaking of that album …

PersonA will be a lively mixture of rock out performances with a few intentional slower songs too.

During the mixture of songs from PersonA, we saw all the facets of Alex.  He shared a song about his daughter, and he led his crew through jams of all kinds.  Each song that the Zeros played was brought in by a key instrument, and the rest followed.  It landed somewhere between a constructed song and a jam… very conducive to dancing.  Perhaps even dancing on the pews.  Speaking of pews …

Want to have an unforgettable concert experience with unbelievable acoustics?  Have it in a church.  With beer.

Here’s the one time where all religious metaphors and jokes are allowed.  The fills were holy and the echoes were ungodly (er, I guess Godly, in this case).  And Alex ate it all up complete with a few Stevie Nicks inspired spins.  He called the venue “one of the most beautiful place we’ve ever played.”  

Thanks Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, for the energetic show, and of course, the first time I’ve ever seen beer in a church.