Man it was a special night in Charlotte North Carolina last night. In the mists of all the Coronavirus worry and music festival and sporting events being cancelled and postponed left and right, the Queen City SHOWED OUT! That’s right Charlotte you guys packed The Underground and gave these band’s a warm welcome. Though I’m not a Charlotte Native, I’m very proud of the city that I call my concert home! So let’s jump right in.
Kicking off the night was San Francisco’s own I, The Mighty. Now I’ll be honest with you, I had heard that name, but never listened to them before this tour. But I was thoroughly impressed with this 4 piece progressive rock band. Now if you’re like me and had heard the name but never really gave them a spin, let me enlighten you on what you’re missing. If you’re into catchy hooks and technical guitars, then I, The Mighty is for you. These guys played a quick 7 song set that included a new track “Where I Wanna Be” the had fans bouncing and keeping their hands up the whole set.
Following I, The Mighty was Pure Noise Records recording artist, Four Year Strong. Not only is this a special tour for Silverstein, celebrating 20yrs and a new record, but FYS just released their new record “Brain Noise” just 2 weeks ago on February 28th. Which I might add landed them on the Billboard 200 at number 17, which is the bands highest charting album to date. So congrats to those dudes! But these Boston Natives kicked this show into a completely new gear. From the moment this foursome hit the stage they gave fans 110% and the crowd gave it right back, crowd surfing, circle pits and screaming the lyrics to every song right back at them. This impressive 12 song set was full fan favorites, and new material and was in your face the whole time.
Then the moment came, the band of the hour, Silverstein! Now if I were to compare this tour line up to a runner running a race, I, the mighty was a 500 yard dash, Four Year Strong was a half marathon, and Silverstein would have been a marathon runner. See the Canadian Post-Hardcore outfit played a MASSIVE 26 song set. Yes, you read that right 26 freaking songs! Kicking their set off with Burn It Down followed Retrograde off their 2017 release Dead Reflections. Now I’m not going to bore you with a complete track by track of their set, cause let’s be honest it’s 26 freaking songs and we’ll be here FOR-E-VER (insert Sandlot voice hear) but I will tell you this. What makes the 20 year tour for Silverstein so special is indeed the 26 songs they played. See the band broke it up into 3 different sets, the first 8 were full of new songs, fan favorites and even a One Republic cover. Then the 2nd set was 6 beautifully done acoustic songs. Then the 3rd set Silverstein performed “Discovering The Waterfront” in its entirety. Ending the night with an encore of “Bleeds No More”. That being said if you want a truly unique night of Celebration, make it out to one of the upcoming stops on the Silverstein 20 year tour. Their are plenty of dates left, and I promise you I, The Mighty will become one of your favorite new bands. Four Year Strong will have you tapping into your punk rock roots, and Silverstein will dive your heart back into your 2004 Emo phase!