Music
23 Live Sex Acts
Stellar punk crew finds fresh anger on ferocious concert LP
Against Me!’s most recent LP, 2014’s Transgender Dysphoria Blues, was the punk group’s first since frontwoman Laura Jane Grace came out as transgender, and songs like “True Trans Soul Rebel” sounded like cries of freedom. On 23 Live Sex Acts — recorded on various dates of the band’s tour last year — they ring even louder. Grace updates the lyrics to 2005’s “Pretty Girls (the Mover)” to address her identity, and interrupts 2007’s “New Wave” to castigate a security guard for ejecting a fan: “If he leaves, you have to get up here and play guitar!” It’s a loose affair, but Grace’s sheer exuberance keeps it exciting.