NYS Music 20​17

Author: Jenny Caulfield

  • Vans Warped Tour Caters to Hardcore in Connecticut

    Dust, blood, sweat and smiles don’t begin to describe a typical day at summer’s largest traveling music festival. Currently in its twenty-third year, the Vans Warped Tour returned for fans of all genres to enjoy their best day of the year on July 9 in Hartford, CT.

    Originally created by founder Kevin Lyman as a festival for alternative rock music, the tour has adapted in it’s over 20 years of activity to cater towards a variety of music genres. This year, the tour made an effort to reign in metal and hardcore fans by featuring bands such as GWAR, CKY, Hatebreed, The Acacia Strain, Municipal Waste, Anti-Flag and Carnifex.

    Alongside these musicians, bands such as Bowling For Soup, Goldfinger, Jule Vera, Streetlight Manifesto, Watsky, Neck Deep, Alestorm and Plain White T’s worked to showcase the festival’s diversity in musicians.

    Besides showcasing bands and musicians such as the popular Andy Black, Never Shout Never, Beartooth and Dance Gavin Dance, the festival also had a knack for highlighting up-and-coming bands and bringing them into the spotlight. With this year’s Full Sail Stage, Knocked Loose, Trophy Eyes, Movements and Boston Manor are a few of the bands on the rise that were able to give everything they had to their performances.

    Although the main stage bands tend to bring in the largest crowds at the festival, this year fans should focus their attention on the Mutant Party Zone, the set of two stages side-by-side labeled Mutant North and Mutant South. The two stages which focus more on heavy music, held hidden treasure performances by some bands that shouldn’t be missed.

    Blessthefall, the five-piece metal band from Arizona, put on a genuine performance that kept fans entertained from start to finish. Whether it’s frontman Beau Boken jumping into the crowd to sing with his fans, or guitarist Elliot Gruenberg jumping and getting in fans’ faces with his guitar, Blessthefall were a highlight of the Vans Warped Tour lineup this year for many reasons.

    Even for Warped Tour attendees who don’t enjoy heavier music, Blessthefall  are a must-see band on this year’s tour.  The consistent energy from every member of the band make watching Blessthefall a genuine pleasure. Besides the fact that they don’t miss a beat, there is not a moment of silence during their set. They will go out of their way to make sure everyone in the audience is noticed, and thoroughly entertained. Where some musicians may get on stage and play their instruments, Blessthefall showcase what a performance really means.

    Another band that knows how to perform for their fans is Gwar. Fans will find themselves in a sea of fake blood while watching the legendary rock band takeover Warped Tour. Opening sets with a decapitation and then blood spewing onto the audience leaves nothing but smiles on fans faces as their white clothes turn into light shades of red.

    The crowd became filled with smiles as fans chanted, “God what an awful racket,” and went out of their way to have their white t-shirts they bought for the show covered with blood. For the sake of the experience, make sure to watch Gwar on the Vans Warped Tour. Depending on where you stand, you will leave with minimal blood on your clothes, and an understanding of why Gwar are a once in a lifetime rock group to see.

    Whether you’re a fan of pop, rock, heavy metal or rap, the Vans Warped Tour has you covered for a good time. For fans that attend to see multiple bands they adore, they will get their money’s worth for an entire day of meeting and watching their favorite bands they may not get the chance to see elsewhere. Although it’s difficult to get the entire Warped Tour experience in one day, you’ll understand why it continues to be the longest running music festival in the country, and continues to dominate the music scene as the must-see music festival of the summer.

  • State Champs Sell Out Hometown Show

    Albany natives State Champs truly came around the world and back after selling out their hometown venue in Clifton Park, N.Y. With a full house, State Champs performed to the best of their ability for their friends and loved ones on Saturday.

    On May 13, State Champs alongside Against The Current, With Confidence and Don Broco sold out Upstate Concert Hall on their second to last night of their headlining tour.

    The night kicked off with Young Culture, another band from Albany, N.Y. Even from the start, they got everyone’s attention by performing their song, “Bedroom Floor” which features Derek DiScanio of State Champs. The support from fans of Young Culture led into the next band on the lineup, Don Broco.

    The England-based rock group kicked off the night with their fantastic stage presence, and unique sound. Frontman Rob Damiani made sure to jump into the audience for their hit single, “You Wanna Know,” which took the audience by storm.

    Don Broco, which sound like a heavier version of The 1975 as a comparison, had a perfect vibe to bring to this tour. With their outstanding energy and audience engagement, Don Broco left an impression on fans with their catchy pop-sounding choruses with rock undertones. With their unique vibe and style, had it been any other night of the tour, Don Broco have the ability to be the band to steal the show.

    Intense pop-punk group With Confidence picked the pace back up with their engaging and impressive vocals and energy. Opening their set with their hit song, “Voldemort,” the crowd immediately reacted accordingly to their performance. Fans were jumping and screaming the words to the song, and trying to get as close to the stage as they could. Due to the importance of this date of the tour, With Confidence dedicated their performance of “London Lights” to State Champs. “This goes out to anyone who knows someone who’s stepped on their fucking heart,” said vocalist Jayden Seeley as they led into their performance.

    With the crowd starting to get sweaty from all of the activity, the night shifted to pop group Against The Current to steal the stage. Frontman Chrissy Costanza immediately jumped on stage grabbing everyone’s attention. Despite being on the road for over a month, you would not have been able to tell from Costanza’s performance. Her vocals were great for a live performance with the amount of jumping and running around she does with her time on stage.

    Although some of her high notes could have used a bigger breathe for a cleaner note, this can be forgiven from her non-stop intensive energy song-after-song. The band also worked to get the crowd ready for State Champs by having screaming contests with fans. Perhaps their strongest performance of the night was their song “Runaway.”

    When the time came for State Champs to take the stage, the energy inside the venue shifted. There is something absolutely incredible when you feel the energy and excitement of the friends and family of the members of State Champs cheering along in support.

    “It was truly special for us to play in our hometown at Upstate Concert Hall,” said guitarist Tyler Szalkowski. “We grew up going to shows there when we were teenagers so to now come back as a headliner and sell it out was astounding,” he said.

    State Champs opened their set with a popular older hit of theirs, “Remedy.” Fans immediately made their way to the front of the venue in droves crowd surfing on top of each other to make contact with State Champs.

    With their first performance at Upstate Concert Hall this year, the feeling of love and support from seeing friends and family in the audience made the vibe for this hometown State Champs show indescribable.

    “The night was made even more special by all of our friends and family being there alongside us,” said Szalkowski.

    With the new release of the deluxe edition of Around The World And Back, State Champs were able to use their tour to debut performing their new song, “Slow Burn” which was received well by the audience.

    Along with performing their newer material, you could tell there was support from longtime fans at the show due to the amount of activity from performing an older State Champs song during the show. Their performance of “Deadly Conversation” led to not a single person still inside the venue. Uncommon for State Champs, on this tour they performed one of their earlier acoustic hits, “Stick Around,” followed by a single from their new album, “Around The World And Back.” Their performance of the ballad featured Costanza from Against The Current, and had every fan in the audience singing along. “We used to sneak into this venue when we were too young to get in,” said frontman DiScanio.

    If you have the chance to see a band perform in their hometown venue, you have to take that opportunity. With the nature of State Champs intense energetic performances, this style is only magnified while performing for their friends and family back home.

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  • The Rest in Space Tour Sells Out Clifton Park

    The Clifton Park performance on Sunday, March 5 for the Rest in Space Tour may have left fans covered in pizza and Doritos, but smiles were stretched across their faces. Pierce The Veil acted as kings for a day performing at the sold out venue alongside Falling In Reverse and Crown The Empire as they all brought the Rest in Space Tour to Upstate Concert Hall in Clifton Park.

    The show opened with metal group Crown The Empire who kicked off their set with the hit “Zero” off of their most recent album, Retrograde. Crown The Empire kept the energy up from the very start of their set, encouraging fans to crowd surf to the front of the venue. Front man Andy Velasquez tried to encourage the action by discussing their tradition of having crowd surfers at the venue.

    During their hit “The Fallout,” a fan crowd surfed to the front of the venue with two beers in hand for the band. “Is this what I think this is? This is the best day of my life,” said Velasquez as he took the beers from the fan. This was the first time that Crown The Empire played a sold out show the Clifton Park venue. Due to this, there seemed to be additional energy and joy given off by the band. The set contained an entertaining performance by Velasquez by using all areas of the stage to get fans’ attention, as well as from bassist Hayden Tree and guitarist Brandon Hoover.

    Following Crown The Empire was the rock band Falling In Reverse who initiated a food fight during their set. Fans found themselves being victims of the “Bad Girls Club” after foods like Doritos and an entire pizza were rained upon them. Besides food being thrown around during “Bad Girls Club,” the song of the night seemed to be the way the crowd reacted to “Fashionably Late.”

    When the band started “Alone,” a fight broke out in the middle of the song, and as security escorted people out of the venue, Falling In Reverse decided to start the song over again. This was Falling In Reverse’s first performance at the Clifton Park venue since their headlining show in 2012 which resulted in front man Ronnie Radke leaving mid-set due to his disapproval of actions by the audience.

    After personally kicking out fans who came to the show to protest Falling In Reverse, this was the first time in four years that the band decided to play their set at the venue. Although this led to the show starting on an odd note, by the end of the set, Radke seemed grateful for the way the crowd responded to their set. The band all bowed together, as Ronnie thanked the crowd for the performance

    When Pierce The Veil took the stage, the sold out venue became the loudest it was the entire evening. All four members took the stage exhibited intense energy which included guitarist Jaime Preciado jumping to all parts of the stage. “Do you guys like to make noise out there, Clifton Park?” said frontman Vic Fuentes as the crowd screamed back at him.

    Their set opened with fan favorite “Dive In,” off of their new album, Misadventures. A more emotional song of the night, Fuentes spoke a little before performing their first single off of their new album, “The Divine Zero.” “I was a super timid kid and I didn’t have that voice yet, I didn’t have my confidence yet,” said Fuentes. For Fuentes, music became his, “one thing” to build up his confidence. With this, he dedicated the song to everyone in the audience.

    A treat for older fans of Pierce The Veil, for their Rest in Space Tour show, the band decided to do an acoustic performance of “Stay Away From My Friends,” a song off of their second full-length album Selfish Machines, and a song not commonly done by the band live.

    Besides the songs they performed, Pierce The Veil gave an incredible performance. There were minimal errors to be heard in their live performing in comparison to their studio recording. Vocals by Fuentes were crisp, and he was able to do harsh vocals that complemented that of their recordings. The guitar by Preciado was exceptional compared to that of their recorded work. During fan favorite “Bulletproof Love,” Pierce The Veil brought one lucky fan on stage with them throughout the beginning of the song for Fuentes to serenade.  “Are you ready to cut f-cking loose on this last song?” said Fuentes as they led into their encore.

    When it came to the end of their performance, Pierce The Veil closed their set with their intense, powerhouse song, “King For A Day.” The venue felt electric with the energy from the vocal performance by Fuentes, guitar by Preciado, the bass chords by bassist Tony Perry and drumming by drummer Mike Fuentes. The Rest in Space tour concludes on March 10 in Pheonix, A.Z.

  • Show Preview: Pierce The Veil The Rest in Space Tour

    Pierce The Veil fans are running in circles from the excitement of the Rest In Space tour. 

    Pierce The Veil, alongside direct support Falling In Reverse and Crown The Empire, are scheduled to play at Upstate Concert Hall in Clifton Park, N.Y. on Sunday, March 5.

    On May 13, the band released their fourth full-length album, Misadventures. Fans are welcoming back the band to perform their new material at the Clifton Park venue for the first time since their nearly sold-out show in 2013 with Memphis May Fire, Letlive and Issues.

    Their third U.S. headlining tour promoting the album, the Rest In Space Tour will be hitting North America until March 10. Since the release of Misadventures, Pierce The Veil have released music videos for fan favorites, “Circles,” “Dive In” and “Floral & Fading.”

    Direct support Falling In Reverse are scheduled to release their new album, Coming Home, on April 7 via Epitaph Records. Their fourth full-length release, Coming Home features hit singles, “Loser” and “Coming Home.”

    Following the departure of vocalist Dave Escamilla, in July of last year Crown The Empire released their third full-length album, Retrograde. Their Retrograde Tour promoting the album hit the Clifton Park venue in late November.

    Doors open for the Rest in Space tour at 6 pm on Sunday, and the show kicks off at 7 pm. 

  • Melissa Etheridge Bringing True Self to Troy

    Academy Award and Grammy winning musician Melissa Etheridge is bringing everything she’s got to the Troy with the Hodges Brothers this April.

    On April 23. at 7:30 PM, Etheridge will be performing at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy on her M.E. tour. With two Grammys and an Academy Award win behind her, Etheridge has continued for over two decades to be one of America’s beloved female singer-songwriters.

    Known for hit singles such as, “I’m the Only One”, “Ain’t It Heavy” and “I Want To Come Over,” Etheridge is bringing her signature smoky, raspy vocals to Troy alongside new content for her tour.

    On Oct. 7, Etheridge released, Memphis Rock & Soul, her first album since 2014’s critically acclaimed, This Is M.E. Receiving praise from renowned publications such as Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly, Etheridge will be sharing some of her newer works across the country for her M.E. tour.

    Etheridge is also known for inspiring people beyond her music. Beating her battle with breast cancer, Etheridge appeared at the 2005 Grammys to perform Janis Joplin’s, “Piece of My Heart,” bald from her chemotherapy. Doing so, Etheridge inspired women across the world with her powerful message.

    Tickets go on-sale for the M.E. tour this Friday, Feb. 17 at 10 AM.

  • Coheed and Cambria Announce Tour for Breakthrough Album “Good Apollo”

    Coheed and Cambria have announced a U.S. tour for their monumental third album, Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness for this spring.

    After releasing a mysterious video on their YouTube channel, the band announced the tour for the album the day after. The tour, entitled the NEVERENDER GAIBSIV tour, will visit North America from April to May with the progressive rock band performing the concept album from 2005 in its entirety. The Dear Hunter will be direct support for the tour on non-festival dates.

    Good Apollo, which features the most popular works by Coheed and Cambria including “Welcome Home” and “The Suffering”, has sold over a million records worldwide.

    The name “NEVERENDER” for the tour comes from Coheed and Cambria’s performances of the album originating in 2008, where they performed their first four albums over the span of four nights.

    Stops on the tour include Terminal 5 in New York, Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, CA and the “Welcome To Rockville” festival in Jacksonville, FL.

    Tickets are on sale today via Ticketmaster and you can visit the band’s website for more details.

    NEVERENDER GAIBSIV Tour dates:

    April 11 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox
    April 13 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
    April 14 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
    April 15 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium
    April 18 – San Diego, CA – Observatory North Park
    April 19 – Tempe, AZ – The Marquee
    April 22 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Complex
    April 22 – Denver, CO – Fillmore Auditorium
    April 25 – Austin, TX – Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater
    April 26 – Dallas, TX – House of Blues
    April 27 – Houston, TX – House of Blues
    April 29 – Jacksonville, FL – Welcome to Rockville*
    April 30 – Saint Petersburg, FL – Jannus Live
    May 2 – Atlanta, GA – Tabernacle
    May 3 – Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Works
    May 5 – New York, NY – Terminal 5
    May 6 – Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore Silver Spring
    May 7 – Concord, NC – Carolina Rebellion*
    May 9 – Boston, MA – Blue Hills Bank Pavilion
    May 10 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore
    May 11 – Royal Oak, MI – Royal Oak Music Theatre
    May 13 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
    May 15 – Saint Louis, MO – The Pageant
    May 16 – Kansas City, MO – Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland
    May 18 – Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE – Indoor
    May 19 – Chicago, IL – Aragon Ballroom
    May 20 – Columbus, OH – Rock on the Range Festival*

    *Festival show, No Neverender or The Dear Hunter

  • Streamstock 2017, a Streaming Inauguration Day Music Fest

    Musicians have joined forces to livestream a concert, Streamstock, during Inauguration Day on Friday, Jan. 20, to protest the Inauguration of the 45th president of the U.S.young the giant streamstockStreamstock 2017, an online music and arts festival that describes itself as, “by the people and for the people,” will begin at the same time as the Inaugural Address to raise awareness for various progressive causes.

    The festival’s lineup includes Young The Giant, Umphrey’s Mcgee, Reed Mathis & Electric Beethoven, Lettuce, Holly Bowling and more. Additionally, Bill Kreutzmann, drummer of the Grateful Dead, will debut his new project, Bill Kreutzmann’s Rooster Conspiracy, exclusively for the event.

    The festival reached out to the public asking for musicians, spoken word artists and poets to submit videos of their work to be a part of the performance. Besides the performance, Streamstock’s main goal is looking to promote progressive causes supported by themselves and the bands on the lineup.

    The grassroots project hopes the event will help bring awareness to groups like the NAACP, ACLA, GLAAD, Women’s Rights and Environmental Organizations, Standing Rock and more, which they feel will need additional support under the Trump presidency.

    In order to view the event, viewers must have the Facebook Messenger app. Visit the Streamstock 2017 Facebook page to download their app. The event launches at 10 a.m.

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