AJJ is most simply described as “folk punk”. Go to a show or check out some of their music and you’ll find that that’s pretty apt, but no words (or recordings) can reproduce the sheer energy at their concerts. Their performance at the Varsity ran for upwards of two hours and attracted fans riding limos and beat-up BMX bikes alike: folk attracts those of all strokes. Frontman Sean Bennett had the crowd whipped into a frenzy from the first few strained notes. His voice carries the same desperation it did back in 2007 in their most popular album, People Who Can Eat People Are the Luckiest People in the World. This album (along with Knife Man, released in 2011) is what most AJJ fans would say pulled them in, and the band was clearly ready to honor that. Sprinkled in among songs from their most recent album, Disposable Everything, were heart-pumping performances of songs exploring relationships of every kind, living in terrible situations, and still finding hope within it all. During a lull in the performance, people started shouting out titles: “Rejoice!” “Big Bird!” “Brave as a Noun!” “Freebird!” Bennett approached the mic. “The request line… is now closed.” Then, as the crowd went wild, Brave as a Noun rang out with desperation and excitement. Disposable Everything, focuses in close, discussing people and the unfortunate circumstances we find ourselves existing together in. There’s a little more fury: we’re treating the world like we get another chance at it even though we know we don’t. Their lead single, which helped kick off the show, sums it up pretty well: “I let the baby panda die, and now it’s not coming back.” The openers - Foot Ox and Open Mike Eagle - were phenomenal. Foot Ox is another alt-folk band, focusing more on fragile, wheedley vocals that pair perfectly with the machinations of the band members they share with AJJ. Open Mike Eagle is a rapper who paired great beats with fantastic music videos projected on the wall behind him and a cheeky ad-lib of a song with forgotten lyrics. His co-star for this tour, Video Dave, stole the show with a rendition of his song LongTermPlans in an intricate patchwork sheisty. How much more can I say? The vocals were paint-stripper intense, with the kind of slow burn that feels normal up until you’re jumping off the walls from the fumes. The drums were live (in the most exciting sense). The banjo and guitar were angry and the world and yet still pretty cheesed to be alive in it. AJJ’s feverish fans, laden with nostalgia and pent-up excitement from last year’s cancellation, were more than willing to take to the pit and become a whirling, frothing mass, singing along like they were drowning. With the push and pull and Varsity’s tall barriers, they might as well have been. It was a fantastic show.