If you were never an awkward, unsure 14 year old clinging to a few nice words from nice girl or guy who probably didn’t feel the same way you did, you’re most likely full of shit. And if you didn’t at least cling to a few nice words from Sunny Day Real Estate to get over the fact that the girl or guy just didn’t like you as much, you’re most likely full of shit.

Luckily, SDRE is never full of shit, and here at their second show of their reunion tour, there was nothing but the huge, tight sounds of strained loneliness that hit home, no matter how cool you are (and let’s face it, we’re all uncool here).

Playing to a packed crowd in the Crystal Ballroom (where admittedly most seemed older, and in many cases very much so, than my 21 year old self), the band ripped through an hour-plus set chock full of favorites; soon after opening the set, SDRE jumped right into the good stuff, playing “Seven”, the lead single off their first album, Diary. Going through gems from their catalogue, the group hit highlights like “Song About An Angel” and “Round” while joking about some of the incoherent lyrics found in their self-titled, second album (aka LP2).

However, nothing else seemed to matter once Jeremy Enigk began to talk about… new SDRE music (!). With a playful rant to the extremely receptive crowd, Enigk explained how the group wrote a song last week, the first new SDRE material in quite some time, and that this was the first time they would be playing this new song, even referring to it as a “rehearsal.” Yes, the crowd went absolutely crazy. Yes, the new song kicks ass. And yes, it sounds like a natural progression of the SDRE we know and love: honest and intense vocals, spiraling melodies, and the grand sense of disillusion that carried us through those painful times. SDRE is back, and they’re going to make you remember why you even thought emo was a legitimate and awesome genre to begin with.