Chiodos Celebrates 20 Years of ‘All’s Well That Ends Well’ at the Ritz Ybor

‘Twas two nights before Warped Tour, when all throughout Florida, the elder emos were stirring, ready to put on their Vans slip-ons and studded belts one more time. On November 13, just down the road from Vans Warped Tour’s triumphant return, Chiodos brought their own brand of nostalgia to The Ritz Ybor in Tampa. Not only did the Craig Owens-led band celebrate 20 years of their breakthrough album, but they also brought along emo legends Hawthorne Heights, deathcore OGs Emmure, and breakthrough slamcore artist Big Ass Truck. This mixed-genre lineup was the perfect teaser for an event that Floridians had been waiting nearly a decade to return.

Big Ass Truck started the night off with a booming, hectic sound that hits like a Ford F-150. They had some sound issues and miscommunications that delayed their start, but they made the wait worth it. They performed their crowd favourites such as “BIG ASS BEER,” “BIG ASS DOG,” before finishing with “BIG ASS TRUCK.”

Emmure has been around for a long time. They are one of the bands that invokes a reaction. If you listen to heavy music, you probably love it or hate it. One thing that is difficult to disagree with is that Emmure puts on one hell of a show. Every breakdown hit like a ton of bricks. Every snare-bomb seemed to get the pit more and more rowdy. Vocalist Frankie Palmeri had the crowd in the palm of his hand and was a master of stage psychology. They played primarily older material such as “Shinjuku Masterlord,” “Solar Flare Homicide,” and “When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong.”

Hawthorne Heights is THAT band, has been THAT band for 20+ years, and will always be THAT band. The emo legends did not pull up, trying to convince us to check out their new material. They knew what we were here for. They performed 40 minutes of nonstop “emo bangers.” The crowd knew every word, dancing and singing along with tears in their eyes. Hawthorne Heights is one of my favourite bands to see live, and they performed my favourite, “Saying Sorry.” Other anthems they performed included: “Pens and Needles,” “Niki FM,” “This is Who We Are,” before closing with their number one hit “Ohio Is for Lovers.”

It is difficult to disagree with the idea that everything Craig Owens touches turns to gold. Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows released one of the titular emo albums of the 00s, and Isles and Glaciers were a supergroup people rave about to this day. However, neither quite had the impact of Chiodos. All’s Well That Ends Well is a terrific album that came out at the start of the emo era, standing out among their contemporaries such as Saosin, Circa Survive, and My Chemical Romance. On that chilly (for us Floridians) night in Ybor, we got to celebrate a timeless album and a timeless band. 

Chiodos opened the night with fog and smoke, with a hooded figure walking around, resembling the wizard from the album cover as the prelude rolled. “All Nereids Beware” began, and suddenly the crowd was teleported back in time to 2005 as the band played their entire hit album, mixing up the order to keep us on our toes, before ending with “Baby, You Wouldn’t Last a Minute on the Creek.” When the first note hit on their final song, the crowd erupted in a way I have rarely seen at shows, speaking to the timelessness of the Chiodos sound.

The mixed-genre show on Thursday in Ybor was a rather strange mix of sounds. Many in the audience, including myself, treated the show as their Warped Tour pre-show. This lineup speaks to the timelessness of emo music and how it looks in different forms. Whether it is Craig Owens hitting the highest highs with Chiodos, Frankie Palmeri hitting gutturals over snare bombs, Hawthorne Heights bringing the crowd back to high school, or Big Ass Truck just really loving trucks. Events like Vans Warped Tour bring so many different sounds together to create one group of people with a common goal, a scene, and there is no better representation of that than this tour.

BIG ASS TRUCK

EMMURE

HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS

CHIODOS