Friday was a big night for These United States. Their album came out just a few days prior, they hadn’t played their secondary hometown (Lex) in a while, and it was the opening night of Buster’s. So while I’ve never really seen the TUS guys nervous, I wouldn’t have blamed them at all for being anxious that night.

These United States’ set was almost completely an even split between their second album and their new album, with all the Crimes material taking up the front half of the set, then the Everything Touches Everything songs finishing out the second half. And you know the craziest part? Even though I like Crimes just slightly better then ETE, it all sounded just as great. The new stuff is absolutely built for the stage — which is great, considering TUS spend most of their year on tour.

Very quickly I realized that I was seeing the best These United States show I’d ever seen — and I’ve seen them a lot. I was so used to seeing them play Al’s Bar to a crowded fifty or so people that I never even wondered what it would be like to see them play to a crowd of hundreds in a venue with a stage and lights. And man, I gotta tell ya, it was fantastic.

Lots more photos after the jump.