The last few years has seen a renaissance of early 2000’s pop punk bands making a comeback to find an adoring audience waiting to hear and see where the bands have been. Among this group of bands is A Day To Remember, who broke onto the music scene in 2003 with their angst-y mixture of pop, punk, and metal. On October 21st the band brought their Degenerates Tour to the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory with fellow bands Beartooth and I Prevail. The show was pure insanity from the onset.
Opening the night was Beartooth, and the crowd’s energy was palpable. People were screaming their lungs out and jumping like crazy. They went into their first song, “The Lines,” and never looked back as lead singer Caleb Shomo barely stopped for a breath as he ran, jumped, and twisted around the stage, gaining more and more momentum while screaming out every lyric. You could tell that the band fed off of everything the crowd was giving them and returned it ten fold.
Next up was I Prevail, who came on stage to deafening cheers, the formation of a massive circle pit, and the arrival of the nights first crowd surfers. This was my second time seeing the band live and they showed the same amount of high energy and intensity from the earlier show. The one thing that has stood out to me about their music is the intimacy and emotion of their music. Songs like “Scars” and “Breaking Down” are real world experiences of the band members struggles with mental illness and life in general. The band is similar to Linken Park in that they have two lead vocalists, Brian Burkheiser performing clean vocals and Eric Vanlerberghe on screamed vocals. This combination creates an interesting and unique dichotomy that makes the band stand out and makes for an amazing live show. The only draw back to their set was that it was not longer as I felt the band had a lot more to give when when their time was up.
During the stage change over, the crowd excitement did not dwindle. The over head sound system played songs like “Clint Eastwood” by Gorillaz, “Break Stuff” by Limp Bizkit, and “Chop Suey!” by System of a Down to pump the crowd up even more than they already were and it was working perfectly as the excitement built until the curtain covering the stage coming down.
A Day To Remember hit the stage like a hurricane and I am positive that this band should come with a warning label. I have been to so some very intense concerts in my life, but everything about ADTR’s live show set a new expectation for insanity. There was confetti, a t-shirt cannon, multiple mosh pits, and a first for me…a person literally crowd surfing another person like a surf board. On top of all of the off stage craziness, the band put on an intense and unforgettable show that no one in attendance will likely forget. Every second on stage was filled with surreal energy and musical mastery as the band played hits like “I’m Made Of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made Of?,” “The Downfall of Us All,” and their latest song “Rescue Me.” Overall this was an amazing combination of bands and definitely a high quality night of music from three bands at the top of their game.
– Robb Miller
