Concert Review: Four Year Strong-- Worcester, MA-- December 27th, 2014

One of the proudest holiday traditions in the state of Massachusetts is the annual Four Year Strong post-Christmas show at The Palladium in Worcester. Last night, I attended my first Four Year Strong post-Christmas show and now completely understand why this has become such a cherished staple in the Massachusetts music scene.

I arrived at The Palladium just as openers Under Fire were wrapping up their set. I didn't hear much of their set, but from what I did see, they were a half-decent pop punk act with a solid vocalist. The first band I got to see in full was New Jersey's Gates. As an emo-tinged post-rock act, Gates was certainly the outlier on a bill that was loaded with pop punk acts, but that didn't stop them from putting on a pretty killer set. Gates' music is often quite beautiful with a lot of low-key melodies and powerful, emotionally-charged vocals from Kevin Dye. It's always cool to see a band that isn't afraid to break the mold of post-rock by incorporating higher-pitched vocals than what you typically see in the genre. As you would probably expect given their vast difference in sound from the other bands at this show, Gates got a polarizing reception from the audience. When they finished each song, the crowd was pretty even split between heavy enthusiasm and visible indifference. Gates is some of the stronger post-rock I've heard in a while and served as a nice change-of-pace from the rest of the lineup.

A Loss for Words hit the stage next. After missing out on them at Warped Tour 2012 and being teased with a couple of partial sets over the years, I was really excited to see them play a full set for the first time. On the whole, A Loss for Words was pretty solid. They thankfully all but completely ignored their terrible 2013 album Before it Caves, and instead played a plethora of tracks from their excellent earlier records The Kids Can't Lose and No Sanctuary. "Honeymoon Eyes" perfectly set the tone out of the gate, "Raining Excuses" and "Wrightsville Beach" showed off Matty Arsenault's vocal chops and "Stamp of Approval" closed out the set on a high note with the mostly lively crowd reaction of the set. While they certainly put on a good performance, there was no denying that they were kind of off as a unit. For those who don't know, they are breaking up at the end of 2015 and after watching this performance, I can see why. Arsenault screwed up lyrics and didn't bother singing certain parts at multiple points of the set, and the whole band just looked miserable on-stage. They possess too much talent and energy to be a complete trainwreck, but they are also far from top-form in their current state. Despite their missteps, A Loss for Words put on a pretty fun show and I'll hopefully get to see them again before they disband.

State Champs started a mere 10 minutes after A Loss for Words wrapped up. After they put on a slightly underwhelming performance when I saw them at Warped Tour earlier this year, I was a bit nervous they were going to disappoint again this time around. Those worries prove to be entirely unwarranted as State Champs proceeded to absolutely kill it for 45 minutes. This was a completely different band than the one I saw at Warped Tour this past summer. Their energy was through the roof, vocalist Derek DiCanio was spot-on and the crowd was beyond enthusiastic. Their extended set time also helped matters, as they got to play a majority of their debut LP The Finer Things. Aside from the lack of "Over the Line", the set was pretty much perfect as it covered all of the strongest material from that album. Near the end of the set, they confirmed that they're entering the studio in February to record their second LP. I'm really stoked to hear what they do next. The Finer Things is one of the best pop punk records of the past decade and given the fact that they're still in their relative infancy as a band, it's entirely possible that they've haven't even fully hit their stride yet. In just over two years of being a national band, State Champs has already risen to the top of the pop punk hierarchy and with their performance last night, they proved they're every bit as good live as they are in studio.

The cultivators of this proud Bay State holiday tradition, Four Year Strong, finished out the evening. As always, they brought it. This was the first time I had the pleasure of seeing them play in their hometown of Worcester and it was truly a fantastic experience. They went over great the previous two times I had seen them at Warped Tour, but that was nothing compared to last night. Seemingly everyone in the room was jumping up and down, singing along and moshing/crowd surfing for every single song; regardless of how popular or obscure it was or what record it was off of. This type of dedication to a band is rare to see in any genre, so kudos to Four Year Strong for having some of the most rabid, passionate fans on the planet. As for the band itself, they sounded great per usual. Alan Day and Dan O'Connor are as good of vocalists as you'll find in the genre and they both have their own unique strengths that make Four Year Strong standout from pretty much every band that covers similar territory with their music. The entire band was having a blast on-stage and you can tell that these hometown holiday shows are the highlight of their years. Seeing Four Year Strong in their a hometown was a total blast and I'll almost surely be hitting up their holiday show again next year.            


Scores:
Gates 7.5/10
A Loss for Words 7.5/10
State Champs 8.5/10
Four Year Strong 8/10

Setlists:
A Loss for Words:
Honeymoon Eyes
Hold Your Breath
Pirouette
Raining Excuses
Wrightsville Beach
Distance
Mount Saint Joesph
Stamp of Approval

State Champs:
Simple Existence
Nothing's Wrong
Prepare to Be Noticed
Deadly Conversation
Easy Enough
Hard to Please
If I'm Lucky
Critical
Remedy
Elevated

Four Year Strong:
Prepare to Be Digitally Manipulated 
Tonight We Feel Alive (On A Saturday)
Tread Lightly
Stuck in the Middle
Catastrophe
What the Hell is a Gigawatt?
Find My Way Back
Enemy of the World
What's in the Box?
One Step at a Time
Maniac (R.O.D)
Go Down in History
Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die
It Must Really Suck to Be Four Year Strong Right Now

Encore:
Bada Bing! Wit a Pipe!
Wasting Time (Eternal Summer)