NYS Music 20​16

Tag: A Day To Remember

  • Blink-182 Paves the Way for Next Generation of Punk at SPAC

    Blink-182 proved to everyone attending their summer tour last night in Saratoga Springs at SPAC that they are more than just “crappy punk rock.”

    With over 20 years of experience under their belt, it is not shocking that they spent their entire summer touring across North America in stadiums and amphitheaters.

    Blink-182 came to an almost entirely sold-out Saratoga Performing Arts Center on September 4. With A Day To Remember and All Time Low by their side, Blink-182 gave a performance that could only be described as breathtaking.

    Although the tour is split between openers All Time Low and All-American Rejects, All Time Low gave their final performance on Blink-182’s tour this night. Sharing the special moment with Saratoga, All Time Low gave what could be their best performance of the tour.

    Unfortunately for All Time Low fans, despite how preeminent their performance was, frontman Alex Gaskarth felt that the crowd in Saratoga Springs performance for them was not up to par. When Gaskarth asked fans to sing along, “Heyo”, with the band, little show attendees sang along with them. To his disappointment, Gaskarth said, “Wow, that is the worst that has been the whole tour.”

    A Day To Remember, who just released their newest album Bad Vibrations this week, gave the energetic and overly fun performance all fans hope for at any A Day To Remember concert.

    With confetti cannons, toilet paper and shirts being flung from a t-shirt cannon, A Day To Remember have mastered the art of making fans jump and scream through the duration of their performance.

    With years of performing and now six full-length albums to work with, A Day To Remember found a perfect setlist to show off all types of their sound with a blend of songs like, “2nd Sucks,” and “If It Means A Lot To You” in their setlist.

    Blink-182 played in Saratoga for the first time since the Honda Civic Tour in 2011. With fans waiting in line for hours and driving from all parts of New York to be there, the response from Blink-182 fans was incredible.

    Blink-182 is one of the most influential punk rock bands in my generation. Even All Time Low would stop every night to thank Blink-182 for bringing them on the road. Growing up listening to Blink-182, All Time Low are a first hand example of how inspiring of a band Blink-182 is for their genre.

    With the new presence of Matt Skiba on vocals and guitar as the replacement for longtime member Tom Delonge, it is hard to say which version of Blink-182 is better live. What can be said, is that Blink-182 put on a performance last night that fans will remember for years to come. Some songs off of their set like, “Reckless Abandon” and “I Miss You,” were stellar performances by Skiba to match Delonge’s vocals.

    Blending songs like one of their earlier hits “Carousel,” to newer songs like “San Diego,” into the setlist made it so that fans of Blink-182 from any era would be able to enjoy a nearly flawless performance.

    From an almost perfect setlist to little to no vocal or instrumental issues, Blink-182 put on a performance that left fans in awe. From the lawn seats to the pit, fans joined from all areas of Saratoga Springs to sing along to as many Blink-182 songs as they knew.

    Leaving the venue, all you could see was the sweat running down people’s faces, and smiles stretched across the faces of Blink-182 fans of all ages.

  • Blink-182 Brings Classic Pop-Punk to the Lakeview Amphitheater

    Flinging toilet paper, throwing bras and shooting fireworks is just the beginning of the beautiful chaos presented by a Blink-182 show. On Aug. 23, All Time Low, A Day To Remember and Blink-182 presented the Lakeview Amphitheater in Syracuse, NY with nothing less than an outstanding rock show.24W_7120

    The show opened with Maryland natives All Time Low who gave a performance that left fans in awe. During their opening song, “Lost In Stereo,” guitarist Jack Barakat ran off stage and into the audience surprising hundreds of fans with pictures and high-fives.

    Barakat went out of his way to hit every part of the venue from the floor seats, to out past the lawn, while continuing to perform “Lost In Stereo.” As exciting as it was to watch, Barakat should have expected the fans that ran after him in droves trying to get his attention.

    “I grabbed some dude’s hand and he grabbed my ass,” said Barakat after he returned to the stage from being in the crowd. When returning, they played what was their best song of the night, “Weightless,” which showed off the most energy and excitement from the crowd.

    As an opener, All Time Low expressed their incomparable joy for being asked to be a part of the tour with Blink-182. Frontman Alex Gaskarth opened up to the crowd about how they started playing music in high school, and found their influence from bands like Blink-182.

    “We started this band when we were just in high school and we had just found out about bands like NOFX, Blink-182 and Green Day, and all of those bands are basically the reason we are a band,” said Gaskarth.

    With some vocal issues to start off the night, Gaskarth stabilized his voice when singing the acoustic song, “Missing You,” which showed off his rich tonal quality, and less strain in his vocals.

    As excited as fans were to see Barakat out-and-about in the venue, during All Time Low’s closing song, “Dear Maria, Count Me In,” Gaskarth followed the trend by running with his microphone up the halls of the amphitheater and ending against the barricade of the lawn.

    Like every All Time Low performance, by the end of their set, the stage and their mic stands showed off a rainbow assortment of bras thrown on stage by young fans.

    Opening with All Time Low’s pop-punk style, the crowd was ready to hear five-piece rock band, A Day To Remember, fill the Amphitheater with their heavier sound.

    Starting their set with fan-favorite “The Downfall Of Us All,” dozens of beach balls were released into the audience, but this wasn’t the only thing shot out to the crowd during their set.

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    During their beloved song, “Right Back At It Again,” a man came out with a costume and a t-shirt cannon shooting shirts to fans the entire song. Besides the t-shirts, the band starting throwing out dozens of rolls of toilet paper during, “All Signs Point To Lauderdale,” which made the venue sparkle with the white rolls being thrown every direction.

    With t-shirts and toilet paper shot across the venue from song-to-song, fans were screaming from excitement. With all of the energy and smiles from their set, “Right Back At It Again” and “All Signs Point To Lauderdale”, became the most memorable parts of their performance.

    “How many people grew up listening to heavy music?” asked frontman Jeremy McKinnon before performing the popular, “2nd Sucks.” Although this was the heaviest song of their set, A Day To Remember also played their heavy, recent single, “Paranoia,” off of their upcoming release, Bad Vibrations out Sept. 2.

    A Day To Remember used their stage presence, performing abilities and outstanding stage effects to stand out as putting on the best performance of the night.

    As soon as punk legends Blink-182 took the stage, they immediately went into performing their ever popular, “Feeling This.” Blink-182, which now includes original members drummer Travis Barker and vocalist and bassist Mark Hoppus, were accompanied by their fill-in member, Matt Skiba.

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    Although there were attempts by Skiba to nail Delonge’s vocals in songs like “Stay Together For The Kids” and “Reckless Abandon,” these attempts backfired on Skiba. With vocal strains and pitch issues, Skiba struggled to stay true to the original vocal parts of songs. This being said, in songs like “Los Angeles” and “Cynical,” Skiba hit the nail on the head vocally.

    Despite their new album, California being released a few months ago, Blink-182 presented a diverse selection of songs that stretched across their discography for their set list. With their mix of performing older songs like, “Dumpweed” and newer songs like, “San Diego,” Blink-182 built their set list to accommodate fans of all eras.

    Possibly the highlight of Blink-182’s set was when Hoppus brought smiles to the faces of fans all across the venue as he decided to do a song entirely in the dark.

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    “We invite you to take part in rock and roll history, as you take out your cellular phones, turn on the flashlight feature, and watch in utter f-cking awe and amazement, as we perform this song entirely in the dark,” said Hoppus.

    Against what the crowd anticipated, the song that they went into performing was the minute long, infamous, humorous song, “Happy Holidays, You Bastard,” which after finishing the song, Hoppus said “You’re welcome” to the audience.

    Along with Blink-182’s traditional humor, before performing their hit, “Stay Together For The Kids,” Hoppus gave the audience a briefing of the upsetting nature of the song.

    “It’s so sad, you want to put on eyeliner, be alone in your room and listen to Taking Back Sunday and tell your parents to f-ck off,” said Hoppus.

    With fans of all ages attending and singing along to Blink-182, it is easy to see how influential of a band they are. Some fans, like 26-year-old Tatianna Davis, were seeing Blink-182 as a celebration. Celebrating her two-year anniversary with her boyfriend, Davis and her boyfriend attended the show together. “These are bands I grew up listening to that I absolutely adore,” said Davis.

    Blink-182 closed their set with, “Dammit,” but surprised the crowd by bringing out Landon Barker to close the set. By following the footsteps of his father on the drums, young Barker was the perfect close to the evening.

    The smiles on the faces of fans covered in confetti, toilet paper and dirt was priceless, which should be more than enough motivation to see a Blink-182 tour in a town near you.

    All Time Low Setlist: Lost In Stereo, Love Like War, Dancing With A Wolf, Six Feet Under The Stars, Backseat Serenade, Something’s Gotta Give, Missing You, Weightless, Dear Maria, Count Me In

    A Day To Remember Setlist: Downfall of us All, I’m Made of Wax Larry, What Are You Made of?, It’s Complicated, 2nd Sucks, Right Back At It Again, Have Faith in Me, All Signs Point To Lauderdale, Paranoia, All I Want, If It Means A Lot To You, The Plot to Bomb the Panhandle

    Blink-182 Setlist: Feeling This, What’s My Age Again?, Family Reunion, Rock Show, Cynical, First Date, Down, I Miss You, Bored To Death, Built This Pool, Dumpweed, Stay Together For The Kids, Reckless Abandon, San Diego, Not Now, Violence, Kings of the Weekend, Dysentery Gary, Happy Holidays, You Bastard, Los Angeles, Carousel, All The Small Things, Brohemian Rhapsody, Dammit

  • ADTR, Halestorm, Anthrax and Others Rock Day Two at Rock’N Derby

    Rock’N Derby continued Saturday at the Schaghticoke Fairgrounds, and  saw a comfortable but cloudy day, with a small 10-minute rain shower during Halestorm’s set. The music started at 1:30 p.m. at the Upstate Concert Hall Arena Stage with New York City area band Streetlight Circus.

    Saturday’s lineup was jam-packed with bands, and boasted the biggest lineup out of the three days. The turnout of fans looked, considerably larger than Friday’s crowd. Fans who packed the fairgrounds saw the likes of Anthrax, Halestorm, Hollywood Undead, Sebastian Bach, Beartooth, Chevy Metal, All That Remains, Avatar, Cilver and A Day To Remember, who were the headliners for Saturday.

    A Day To Remember had the longest set time of any band in the three-day festival, with an hour and a half of playing time. ADTR headlined the Derby Stage, and their set had the most crowd surfing fans of the weekend to that point.

    After giving props to the security team for catching fans surfing over the rail all day, frontman and lead vocalist Jeremy McKinnon then asked the crowd if they had ever surfed a crowd surfer. He said to fans, “So during this next song, I’m gonna start this off by saying, you don’t have to participate in this shit cause its wild. We were playing in Wisconsin or some shit, on the Warped Tour one time, and these two guys did something that I will literally never forget. And I dubbed it ‘crowd surfing on top of a crowd surfer.’ Now let me explain this shit to you, somebody crowd surfs on top of the crowd as normal, and then your friend stands on top of you, like your a fucking surf board, and surfs all the way up to the front to the [security]. Please guys don’t do this, but have a fucking good time New York.” The band then played “Better Off This Way.”

    As the intro played for “Have Faith In Me,” McKinnon asked where the ladies were in the crowd. After many screams from the ladies in the lawn, the singer then said “Wow, that’s a lot of you.” He then dedicated the next song to them.

    In a hilarious moment, ADTR was next to notice the birthday girl in the front before the song “Sometimes You’re the Hammer, Sometimes You’re the Nail” and told the crowd they only had 3 songs left.

    McKinnon and lead guitarist Kevin Skaff had fun with the crowd and randomly started playing “Faith,” by George Michael. After two lines of the song, Skaff then joked “That was one song out of three.” The crowd laughed and McKinnon replied, “That’s one song down. What else we got Skaff?”

    Skaff started singing “Happy Birthday” to even more laughter. This prompted McKinnon to ask the crowd if anybody had a birthday. As the two’s eyes combed through the crowd, Skaff noticed a fan that said they turned sixteen today. He said back “You just turned sixteen and you already have a beer? That’s weird.” The crowd erupted again with laughter.

    McKinnon then noticed the 5-year old girl and asked if she wanted to come up on stage. The frontman then said to the crowd “Everybody out there tonight, this is this girls first show and she turns five years old today.” After cheers from the crowd, he asked the girl her name, then the band and the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to the girl. After they sang to the girl, McKinnon said, “That should work for a first concert.” Skaff then interjected “That’s some good footage, put it in the archives. I was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle for my fifth birthday.” That made McKinnon and the crowd laugh. The band got down to business and asked the crowd how many of them checked out their latest album Common Courtesy.

    A lot of bands could take note when being a headliner from ADTR when it comes to how many songs a band puts in their set. McKinnon recalled a story that happened from the beginning of their current tour. McKinnon stated, “I gotta to tell you a true story. We started this tour, and we were playing fifteen songs … and this girl got on Twitter and she was like, ‘Yo, I waited eight years to see your band, and you only played fifteen songs?’ And I got to tell you, she was not wrong, and I felt guilty. So we’re gonna play some extra songs for you tonight. Is that cool?” The fans at Rock ‘N Derby went crazy. McKinnon finished by saying, “So if this song right here meant anything at all to you in your life. If this song is your shit…you owe that girl.” ADTR then played “It’s Complicated.”

    ADTR closed out with “The Plot to Bomb the Panhandle.” McKinnon introduced the last song by saying “We are A Day to Remember from Central, Florida, and you’ve been fucking amazing tonight. Thank you for sticking around. This is going to be our last song for the night, and this is what I need from you. I wanna see everybody out there jumping up and down with us on this next song. That means everybody across the back, everybody on the fucking sides and especially all my people down fucking front. New York are you with me? I wanna feel the earth fucking shake.” What a way to close out the second night. ADTR’s set was really fun and energetic and wild. Multicolored streamers shot through the sky during the last song in the set. Set Time 9:30-11 p.m.

    Anthrax headlined the Rock’N Stage on Saturday night. Huge turnout of fans to take in their set. Joey Belladonna, an upstate New York native and the band’s lead singer, shouted out to the crowd after a couple songs saying, “Oh yeah, how we doing out there? Everybody good? I know we got a lot of people from New York here tonight. Good evening to you. It’s nice to be here. This is the first time I’ve seen this show out this way. It’s nice to see everybody here. You all having a good time? Fuck yeah, lets get this going, alright?” Anthrax then played “Madhouse.”

    After a couple more tracks, guitarist Scott Ian had the crowd laughing as he took the time to talk with the crowd about how the name of the town is hard to say and to give Belladonna a small break from singing. Ian stated “Upstate New York, how the fuck are you Rock’N Derby? Someone told me how to pronounce the name and where we are and I all heard was Shitty Coke!” The crowd erupted with laughter and started a “Shitty Coke” chant. Ian then apologized saying “Excuse me if I’m saying it wrong.” He then yelled “Shitty Coke, New York! We have a new album called For All Kings. I got a question, my friends. Do you love thrash metal? You’re welcome. This is ‘Evil Twin’.”

    During the intro to “War Dance” drummer Charlie Benante stopped the song making Scott Ian state “Why did you stop? I have to watch Game Of Thrones. You wanna know why he stopped. Cause Charlie is very concerned that some of you aren’t having as much fun as you should be having. Now check it out, don’t take this the wrong way. We love those dudes in Extreme. They were up here earlier. But this ain’t “More Than Words” now. This is some demolition derby shit. Let’s see you fuckers move one more time tonight. Let’s try the ‘War Dance’ again.” Set Time 9-10 p.m.

    This was the part of the night where the crowd segregated from one another. Everyone over 35 was there to watch Anthrax, while everyone under was watching A Day To Remember.

    Halestorm got the many fans taking in their set right into it by kicking things off with the song “Apocalyptic”. Frontwoman Lzzy Hale yelled to the crowd, ‘Rock ‘N Derby, are you ready?” After cheers from fans, Lzzy pointed to her brother on drums and replied “Arejay, give it to them.” Arejay let out a big “yeah,” then started the intro to “Love Bites.”

    After the band finished “Love Bites,” Lzzy took a minute to get acquainted with the crowd, she said “Rock’N Derby.” Then Lzzy shouted the name of the town Schaghticoke, correctly. She asked if she pronounced it right then went on to say “So how many of you are actually from Schaghticoke?” After almost silence from the fans Lzzy said “That’s like ten people.” After some laughs, Lzzy then got serious and introduced who they were and what they are about. She stated “Thank you so much for allowing us to be here tonight. We are Halestorm. My name is Lzzy Hale, and for the next 70 minutes or so I’m gonna be bossing you around alright. So, we got two rules, number one, we are all here to have a fucking fantastic time tonight. And number two Schaghticoke, when I say scream, you fucking scream, alright? Ready?” Halestorm then performed “Scream.”

    Lzzy then talked about how she is a a freaky chick. She said there’s some stuff up here that just ain’t right, pointing to her head, then told the crowd to ask any of her ex-boyfriends. She then said to the crowd “I feel like I’m not alone tonight, Schaghticoke, I’m not alone. Sing this one if you know it.” Halestorm then went into “Mz. Hyde.”

    If you know the lyrics, Lzzy picked the perfect time to perform the song, “Rock Show.” She noticed the birthday girl and said “Happy fifth birthday darling.” Lzzy then said to the crowd “This is what its all about right here. We have a future leader of rock and roll, right front and center. Young lady’s fifth birthday, first rock concert. I’m gonna be looking for you for lyrics alright.” The frontwoman the went on to sing freestyle asking the fans in attendance if they wanted her, if they loved her, cause she loves them too. Lzzy then asked the crowd “Schaghticoke, are we in church? Schaghticoke, are we in a classroom right now? Hell no. Schaghticoke, are we at a boring dead end job right now? Schaghticoke, give me one more, are we at a fucking rock show tonight?”

    After the song, Lzzy asked the crowd if anyone watched the demolition derby that went on earlier in the day. In a funny moment, she then shared her experience with the crowd “So something pretty cool, I was watching the derby over there. Fucking demolition derby. I was watching through the fence and I was like, what does it say on the side of number 33, it said fucking Halestorm, that’s what it said. So I’m rooting for this truck, I’m rooting for it the whole time, I’m like kill him, finish him. And then what do you know? Number 33 Halestorm won the friggin derby today. So this one goes out to all the drivers, this is called “I Like It Heavy.”

    After Arejay’s drum solo, Lzzy asked the fans if they could do something for her because she has never been to Schaghticoke. She the said “We decided that there’s only about 10 people actually live here. So I kinda wanna know something. I need to know what you can do. I need to know how crazy you motherfuckers are. I need to know, I need to know what kind of freaks showed up at a rock show in Schaghticoke, New York tonight. Are you ready?” Halestorm played “Freak Like Me.” Set Time 7:45-9 p.m.

    Avatar, a Swedish rock group, performed on the Rock’N Stage and put on one hell of a live show. Their costumes and frontman Johannes Michael Gustaf Eckerström’s gestures and mannerisms are silly but fun to watch. He had the whole crowd rocking and laughing at the same time. It’s really a feel-good time watching this band. It’s like a show inside of a show.

    As the intro for the band’s song “Hail The Apocalypse,” Eckerström asked the crowd to raise their horns in the sky and join us as we burn the house down. The band had a really good fan turnout ready to take in Avatar’s set. Set Time 3:30-4:10 p.m.

    All That Remains followed Avatar on the Rock’N Stage. Singer Philip Labonte stopped after a couple songs to ask the crowd, “You guys got some energy out there, huh?” Not liking the fans’ response, Labonte yelled to the crowd, “C’mon, I know you can do better than that, make some noise. In case you’re not familiar with All That Remains, we’re one of those bands who like to do some heavy stuff and some not-so-heavy stuff. The two songs we just played, they fall under not-so-heavy. And I think you gentlemen out there on the floor, out there in the pit. You guys ready for something heavy? Again not feeling the response from the crowd he wanted, Labonte yelled ‘Bullshit,’ then screamed “Are you ready for something heavy?” ATR then played “No Knock.”

    Labonte wanted to bring things back down for a bit. After asking fans if they were having a good time, he sat on the stage and said to the fans, “We don’t have a lot of time left so we’re gonna do a few more, and like I said earlier, we’re one of those bands that likes to play some heavy stuff, and some not-so-heavy stuff. A couple records back we wrote a song, that’s really not heavy at all, and if its cool with you guys, were gonna do it for you, alright? Here’s the deal, now’s the time to cuddle up next to your girlfriend or boyfriend if you expect to get laid tonight. Well you should expect to get laid, you’re at a fucking show, and everyone is drinking and shit. If you know the words, c’mon and sing along. This ones called “What If I Was Nothing?” Set Time 4:30-5:10 p.m.

    Hollywood Undead, an L.A. rap and rock group, had fans over at the Derby Stage bouncing and jumping through their whole set. Hollywood Undead has a unique stage show. If every member wearing their own individual masks on stage wasn’t enough, every member of the band plays an instrument and has vocal duties throughout their sets. Band members even rotate singers and musicians during their songs.

    Jordan “Charlie Scene” Terrell called up the little girl who was celebrating her fifth birthday at Rock ‘N Derby on stage to introduce the band’s next song. After asking her name, Terrell then asked the girl what her favorite song was. She replied “Let It Go” from the Disney movie Frozen. Terrell replied to the girl “Holy shit, we definitely don’t know that one. How about you introduce this song. Check this out. Let’s have you help me introduce this song. I’m gonna tell you what to say.” Terrell held the mic in front of her and whispered in the girls ear as he held another mic with his back turned. Terrell then said in a little squeaky voice, “This song is called ‘Comin’ in Hot’ motherfucker.”

    George “Johnny 3 Tears” Ragan stopped to talk to the crowd before the song “Day Of The Dead.” He made fun of the name of the town by pronouncing it Schnananananacoke.” Terrell replied “Did somebody say coke?” Ragan finished his speech by saying “You guys are fucking awesome. Thanks for having us, thanks for coming and support. It’s our pleasure to be here and do this Derby. We love it so fucking much. We had a record come out last year. We will play a song from it. This song is called ‘Day Of The Dead.’” Set Time 6:30-7:15 p.m.

    Former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach, rocked the Rock ‘N Stage. After the first song in the set “Slave To The Grind,” Bach said to the crowd, “I see you in the back, what the fuck’s going on New York? Lets go back to the first album. What do you say? Bach then played “Big Guns.” Bach played many Skid Row classics, ending the set with “Youth Gone Wild.” Bach really exceeded my expectations of him. It was going around that he was not feeling well, and his meet and greet with RND Vip’s was cancelled. Bach performed pretty good on stage vocally and showed a ton of energy. Set Time 6:35-7:20 p.m.

    Beartooth rocked out the Upstate Concert Hall Stage. I was kind of let down here, but it may not have been all their fault. They had bad sound quality, and I actually think they may have been too loud for the building they were in. There seemed to be an echo at times during their set depending on where you stood in the venue.

    Singer Caleb Shomo asked the crowd, when he says “1, 2” he wants them to say back, “1, 2, 3 ,4,” before the song “Dead.” He said to fans “We’re gonna do this one more time. When you say one, this whole room, barn, thing, is gonna be one giant mosh pit. Everybody moves. I need mass organized chaos. This ones called ‘Dead.’”

    Before the band played their new single “Aggressive,” Shomo said to the crowd “We kind of feel like we’ve been playing the same old shit for a little bit too long. We’re gonna change that one. We have a new record. Were gonna play a new one for you now, is that O.K.? This is the title track of our new album. This song is called “Aggressive,” Let’s go.” Set Time 8:45-9:30 p.m.