Brand New / 7 Years + 13 of "The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me" Tour / Stage AE / Pittsburgh / 10.14.2026
Brand New is spending the fall celebrating the 20th anniversary of their sonically shifting album The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me. Here’s what went down when the tour stopped in Pittsburgh.
1. Packed!
Brand New has always had an extremely loyal fan base, and they showed up in force. The crowd filled Stage AE to the point that you were met with a wall of people almost immediately upon walking through the doors. The fan base reminds me a lot of Pearl Jam’s over the years. You might not hear much about the band in everyday conversation, but the fans are always there: passionate, dedicated, and plentiful.
2. Did Jesse go to the latest NIN tour?
These visuals… man. MAN! Just before the band began playing The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me in its entirety, a screen was draped in front of the stage. As the opening chords of “Sowing Season” rang out, Jesse Lacey’s shadowy image appeared in a massive projection. You could still make out the actual band behind the screen as the visuals unfolded, creating an incredibly beautiful effect. It reminded me a great deal of Nine Inch Nails’ tour earlier this year. I never expected to see something like this from Brand New, but it worked incredibly well.
3. A FULL show.
Most bands playing venues the size of Stage AE give you about an hour and a half, maybe two hours if you’re lucky. Brand New delivered a 29-song set that clocked in at nearly two hours and 20 minutes. They gave The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me its full-album treatment, then essentially delivered another complete set packed with the rest of their catalog. Nobody was walking away feeling shortchanged.
4. Hired guns fill out the sound.
I know it can feel a little strange when a band you remember seeing in basements with just four members suddenly has another four people onstage. You can’t help but wonder, “Who are these guys?” But the additional musicians made a real difference here. The extra drums, third guitar, and keyboards helped Brand New deliver a fuller, more album-accurate sound. As bands grow and their music evolves, reproducing everything from the studio becomes increasingly difficult with just the original lineup. Bringing in additional musicians was a smart move, and it paid off in a big way.
5. Jesse is enjoying himself, and it’s everything.
I was fortunate enough to see Brand New several times during the original touring cycles for The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me and the albums that followed. At some of those shows, I genuinely questioned whether Jesse Lacey still wanted to be doing this. I didn’t see a single trace of that at this show. He looked energized, passionate, and completely lost in the music. Seeing that kind of connection to the performance made a real difference. Hopefully, that renewed energy carries Brand New into whatever the next chapter looks like for them.
