One of my favourite albums from the ‘early-mid-00s indie rock boom’ was With Love and Squalor from the Brooklyn trio We Are Scientists. So when they announced a tour celebrating the 20th anniversary I was very excited (after feeling the inexorable march of time), especially since I hadn’t caught them live in about a decade.

I was running late and missed the opener Sean McVerry, luckily getting to the theatre mere moments before We Are Scientists took the stage — Keith Murray (on guitar and vocals) and Chris Cain (bass and backup vox) joined by drummer Keith Carne — as they launched in to “You’ve Lost Your Shit” off their album Huffy. After a few songs off the top, including the bouncy “Rules Don’t Stop”, they riffed a brief introduction to the album before the explosive “Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt”, giving me chills as they tore through the iconic opening track.

From there they went to the acerbic “This Scene Is Dead” and raucous “Inaction” as they played With Love and Squalor in full, hitting songs like the (relatively) calm “Can’t Lose” leading into the frenetic “Callback”, the soaring “It’s a Hit”, and a huge singalong to another favourite, “The Great Escape”. Keith dipped into the crowd for “Textbook” as he waded through the dancefloor singing with fans, and they finished the album with the killer one-two combo of “Worth the Wait” and “What’s the Word”.

But they didn’t slow down once the album is done, rocking through newer material with “Buckle” and Sean McVerry joining them for “I Cut My Own Hair” and staying for the rest of the set.

Chris and Keith also joked around throughout the set, with the audience but also clearly trying to make each other laugh. At one point they mentioned how they never end up staying in Vancouver after their shows here, and landed on the reason being that they’re too soft for the harsh Canadian prisons if they get caught at the border.

They finished off the main set appropriately enough with “What You Want Is Gone” off their most recent album Qualifying Miles, but were quickly back out for another couple songs; first “Less From You” and then another huge singalong to the hit “After Hours”.

The first time I saw We Are Scientists was twenty years ago (at the Red Room!) and I remember loving their energy, their catchy songs, and their sense of humour on stage. And all three of those were well on display last night. They are clearly having a blast on stage and that radiated out through the crowd of aging millennials who were more than happy to go back in time and celebrate an excellent album.

setlist
You’ve Lost Your Shit
I Don’t Bite
Rules Don't Stop
Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt
This Scene Is Dead
Inaction
Can’t Lose
Callbacks
Cash Cow
It’s a Hit
The Great Escape
Textbook
Lousy Reputation
Worth the Wait
What’s the Word
Buckle
Please Don’t Say It
I Cut My Own Hair
The Big One
What You Want Is Gone
(Encore)
Less From You
After Hours