Octane driven metalcore/pop punk band A Day to Remember made their way back into Houston on Tuesday, Oct. 3, to follow in their tour of their release of the “Bad Vibrations” album; bringing forth the fact that after 14 years of being out and touring they are still on with their vicious yelling, pizza accompanied choruses and heartfelt acoustics on the stage. While introduced by the relentless battle in music that is Wage War, and the angst-filled choruses of Moose Blood, prepared for one of the most intense concerts they have played in Texas. They took a shot in the dark at almost all of their albums from the almost decade and a half that they have been around to both expose their content from the most recent album while also tugging at the heartstrings of die-hard fans by playing multiple oldies from the prologue albums.
Fans anxiously awaited their arrival, and as their show was getting prepped, a gargantuan banner with the original eagle logo from “For Those Who Have Heart” was propelled into the background of the stage followed by big bold letters in the abbreviation of ADTR. As fans noticed this, an immediate roar came from them as they instantly knew that the highlight of the night were on the way. Many original fans were there, as there were many more grownups than to be expected of modern day metal band. But as these gentlemen have been around since 2003, there was many people in their mid-30s awaiting to see their Legion band once again or to see them for the very first time. The stage was packed to the brim, and with a crowd ready to be set off into wildfire as soon as they heard the signature Euphoric guitars.
While the wait was on, fans were hyped up even more by hearing metal hits such as “Chop Suey!” by System of a Down. And then out of the bloom, the room went pitch black and a massive roar came from the crowd, knowing that the band was about to set foot on the stage. Drummer Alex Shelnutt was the first one to come out, as he sat on his pedestal in the middle of the stage. Then came bassist Joshua Woodard who was then followed by both guitarists Neil Westfall and Kevin Skaff. Then, finally running out, frontman Jeremy McKinnon was rocking his signature lock beard as always.
They kicked off the concert with one of their most meaningful songs to fans, “All I Want”, which speaks of finding a place to fit into in the world around you. This was started with a confetti and fog explosion, wreaking havoc in the crowd with a huge circle pit taking up half the room consisting of gigantic brolic, built, and bearded men. Anyone in that pit under 6 feet and 160 pounds was sure to be mauled by the raw force of excitement born of metal punk.
The show consisted of a whole variety of their hits like “I’m Made Of Wax Larry What Are You Made Of”, “Mr. Highway’s Thinking About The End”, and “2nd sucks” which were definitely on the deep end of their heavy songs. Whilst they played these, there were still plenty of acoustic or serenading songs which they united their fans’ hearts with such as “We Got This” and “If It Means A Lot To You.” They even added in a tribute to Tom Petty for his recent passing by playing “Won’t Back Down” as Mckinnon and Skaff strummed away and harmonized like a choir of angels. And when it seemed the show was over, the fans united in a single chant: “ONE MORE SONG” to which the band responded to with three more songs in a charismatic explosion
While all this was happening it must be remembered that ADTR never fails to put up a good show. They had fog machines and confetti going off, whilst the lights in the room were absolute haywire. They began the throwing of toilet paper rolls and beach balls nearing the very end; They also had a contest they have done all around the world in which a crowd surfer must ride another crowd surfer like a surfboard.
To fully express the teenage angst, the band finalized the concert with their anthem and most popular song “The Downfall Of Us All” in which everyone united, jumping up and down causing tremor in the building chanting the initial war cries. In a final dynamic sing a long, the fans and the band were connected like shepherd to sheep and A Day To Remember once again proved that in Texas, all shows are bigger alongside the power of punk and metal pizzacore.
