Saturday, December 18, was the return of Frozen Fest in Albany, New York, at Empire Live. The show was headlined by Albany’s own State Champs, with Origami Angel, Young Culture, and Pollyanna. Pollyanna, and Albany-based Young Culture opened up Frozen Fest 2021 and primed the crowd for Origami Angel. The Washington D.C. duo took the stage and rocked harder than any duo should be able to. By the end of their set, the Frozen Fest audience was feeling loose and ready to party with State Champs.
State Champs walked on stage before a rowdy crowd that had no idea there was a 24-song set in store for them. The long setlist bounced around State Champs’ discography and the audience loved every minute of it. The hometown band opened with ‘Criminal’ and crowd surfers immediately began pouring over the guardrail. The show’s energy slowly increased over the course of the next hour, until fans received good news.
After what felt like an entire show, Derek announced to the crowd that their set was only halfway over. A few hundred sweaty and out-of-breath fans gained a second wind and the night’s energy continued on its upward trajectory. Not too long after this midpoint though, the show hit a tipping point. Fans who were too scared to crowd surf earlier had gained the confidence to try, and one person after another began giving the “up” signal to the nearest strongman they could find.
Eventually though, the good times would have to end. As State Champs played their final songs, the party in the crowd continued with pushing and shoving blurring with hugging and singing. The only thing that could take the night higher was a 5-minute break before a three song encore. State Champs’ set peaked during this encore as the Albany fans sent up as many crowd surfers as was physically possible. Frozen Fest 2021 would go on to end in a shower of hundreds of balloons as the crowd sang along with their hometown band.
State Champs are heading to Europe next, but you can keep track of future dates on their website.
Setlist: Criminal, Mine Is Gold, Outta My Head, Shape Up, Frozen, Xmas, Tonsil Hockey (Intro), Critical, Something About You, Shades Of Gray, Hurry Up and Wait, Our Time to Go, Breaking Ground, Hard to Please, Just Sound, Simple Existence, Slow Burn, Losing Myself, All You Are is History, Dead and Gone
Encore: Time Machine, Elevated, Secrets
