Silverstein + friends bring back the heat to the Worcester Palladium

Last week, the iconic post-hardcore, emo band Silverstein brought their 2nd to last stop on tour to the Worcester Palladium. The band as a whole emulates the entire definition of “emo”. This was the 3rd leg of the tour this year, with 23 dates starting from Cleveland, OH, and ending in Brooklyn, NY. Silverstein visited Massachusetts back in January and ended up back in December, which is pretty awesome. On this leg of the “25 Years Of Noise” tour, Silverstein brought along some friends, Thursday, Free Throw, and Bloom, which I believe were absolutely perfect openers. 

The first band to open was a melodic hardcore band, Bloom, straight out of Sydney, Australia. They are a 5-piece band including members such as Jono Hawkey, Vocalist, Jarod McLaren & Oliver Butler, Guitarists, Andrew Martin, Bassist, and Jack Van Vliet on Drums. They were a perfect band to start the show off because they have fantastic energy between the music and their stage presence. Bloom played 8 songs: “Out Of Reach”, “Bound To Your Whispers”, “Keep You”, “Cold”, “Forget Me Not”, “Life Moves On Without Us”, “Siren Song”, and “Withered”. 

Next up on the set was an emo band, Free Throw, from Nashville, Tennessee. Free Throw really kept the energy high as their set went on. They know how to keep a crowd alive. They are also a 5-piece band with members including Cory Castro, Vocalist, Lawrence Warner, Lead Guitarist, Jake Hughes, Rhythm Guitarist & Backing Vocals, Juston Castro, Bassist, and  Zach Hall on Drums. Free Throw played an 8 song set with songs including, “The Corners Dilemma”, “Pallet Town”, “My High/So Yeah, So”, “A Part Is Better Than Zero”, “Mike Nolan's Long Weekend”, “Tongue Tied” (my favorite song), “Randy, I Am The Liquor”, and “Two Beers In” 

The last band that played before Silverstein was Thursday. Thursday is a Post-Hardcore band based in New Brunswick, New Jersey. They are a 5-piece band with members including, Geoff Rickly, Vocalist, Tom Keeley, Lead Guitarist, Backing Vocals, Steve Pedulla, Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals, Tim Payne, Bassist, and Tucker Rule on Drums. Geoff is one hell of a performer. His stage presence is truly out of this world. Every time I see them, it somehow gets better each time. Nothing can compare to Geoff once he sits that stage. They played a 9 song set with songs including, “The Other Side of the Crash/Over and Out (of Control)”, “Cross Out The Eyes”, “Signals Over The Air”, “Jet Black New Year”, “This Song Brought To You by a Falling Bomb,” “Fast to the End”, “ The Lovesong Writer”, “Understanding In a Car Crash”, and “War All The Time”. 

Last but not least, Silverstein came on stage. It was very surreal as they opened their set with a college video of old concert videos when they only had 20-50 people watching their shows, now they have hundreds of thousands of fans coming out to each show. The video is a very beautiful way of remembering where they came from and reminiscing on the past. After the video, all of the members come out on stage and get into place. Silverstein band members include Shane Told, Vocalist, Paul Koehler, Drums, Josh Bradford, Guitar, Billy Hamilton, Bassist, and Paul Marc Rousseau, guitar. Silverstein played a 22-song set with a few from each of their albums, including the recent 2, Pink Moon, and Antibloom. They also played some Deep Cut songs such as “Bleeds No More”, “Smile In Your Sleep”, and “Already Dead”. Toward the end of the show, there was a girl holding a sign that said, “It’s My Birthday!” Shane stopped the show to say Happy Birthday and ask if there were any more birthdays in the house tonight, followed up with “Maybe 6 or 7 more …” referencing the viral “6 7” joke. That had the crowd laughing and or confused, as some may not be hip to it. Silverstein always puts on such a phenomenal show, and I am so grateful I got to see them again and photograph their set.

BLOOM

FREE THROW

THURSDAY

SILVERSTEIN