Many bands would followup a successful fall tour by using this holiday season as a chance to take a well-deserved break before getting back on the road. Thursday, however, is not one of these bands. This past Friday night, Geoff Rickly and Co. took the hour or so trip from New Brunswick, NJ to Farmingdale, NY to play Long Island’s Crazy Donkey. Even though Thursday played not one, but two concerts at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom (including a special engagement) just a couple months prior, the show at the Crazy Donkey was quite the more personal affair.

You see, the full name for the Crazy Donkey is the Crazy Donkey Bar and Grill and that’s exactly what the venue is — a bar that has been retrofitted to become one of Long Island’s only substantial concert venues. The cramped quarters make for a rather intimate show — or as at least as intimate of a show as possible when your brand of music entails prolonged screaming and blaring guitar riffs.

Although Thursday was only on the stage for about an hour due to an early curfew (they even had to cut out playing “War All the Time” because of this), the outfit made sure to squeeze in as many songs as possible within its tight time constraints. Perhaps its best to just let our pictures do the talking. As you’ll see, except for a large wreath hanging on the wall, it was quite a no-frills experience — but in the end isn’t it just about the music anyway?

Setlist:
The Other Side of the Crash/Over and Out (of Control)
For the Workforce, Drowning
Between Rupture and Rapture
Understanding in a Car Crash
Resuscitation of a Dead Man
Subway Funeral
At This Velocity
Division St.
Beyond the Visible Spectrum
Signals Over the Air
Jet Black New Year