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A packed house, moshing, crowd surfing, and a human sized hamster ball set off the first show of A Day to Remember’s “Parks and Devastation Tour” with a bang. A line started forming at the early hour of 9 am and once everyone was packed inside both the pit and lawn it was near impossible to move around without running into anyone. Not the best way to watch a live concert but enjoyable none the less.
Opening act, Chiodos, started off with a seven song set consisting of a pair of songs off of their new album “Devil” which came out April 1st of this year. It may have been the opening act but it didn’t stop anyone from moshing or crowd surfing in the sun and heat. Before their final song lead singer, Craig Owens, told everyone he would be at the bands merchandise tent hanging out and taking pictures with anyone who wanted to stop by. I had previously seen Chiodos before at Warped Tour 2013 and enjoyed them just the same then as I do now.
The second band to perform for the sold out crowd was a band from Scranton PA known as Motionless in White. Two new songs from their new album (titled “Reincarnate” coming out on September 15th of this year) were played. The group of five came out dressed in all black with blacked out instruments. For the final song, ”America”, lead singer, Chris Motionless, had a small wardrobe change. He decided to put on a Philadelphia Flyers jacket, and as a die hard Pittsburgh Penguins fan it was hard to watch. Although it took nothing away from the great live show that the band put on.
Next up, Bring Me the Horizon. The british hardcore band had a load of fans at Stage AE, with their last album “Sempiternal,” was voted the winner of Alternative Press’s Award for album of the year award, with notable songs such as “Go to Hell for Heaven’s Sake” and “Can You Feel My Heart” and popular lyrics like “I can’t drown my demons, they know how to swim.” Lead singer Oli Sykes and the band never fail to put on a great live show, always making sure everyone in the audience is having a good time, making everyone crouch down and jump all at once, large mosh pits, or crowd surfing. BMTH is always a great band to listen to and is one of the better bands I’ve seen live.
With the sun fully set, everyone was ready for A Day to Remember to come on. A band known for having stages set up based on the tour, this one called the “Parks and Devastation Tour” the stage gave off a woodsy campground feel complete with a trees and a campfire. After a short nature video and animated eagle pulling away a curtain revealing the backdrop that showed a cartoon Mount Rushmore with a little twist. The heads of the band members instead of the founding fathers. The seventeen song set plus three song encore was heavy with songs from their newest album “Common Courtesy” with eight songs. More popular songs like “If it Means a Lot to You” and “All Signs Point to Lauderdale” were saved for the encore. It was the sixth time they had sold out Stage AE and they were a great pleasure to watch, everywhere from great music, to great effects, to a giant hamster ball that lead singer Jeremy McKinnon to walk the crowd in, it was all a very memorable experience.
I enjoyed every second and am eager to see how not just A Day to Remember but also the rest of the bands do in the future. If you’re into pop punk and hardcore music then these bands are great for you to give a chance. Not only do they make great music but also put on a great live show.
