Birmingham’s Light You Up took to the stage first on a bill packed with pop punk talent. Light You Up are one of only a few UK pop punk bands and they certainly done the UK proud tonight, all members of the band showed excellent energy and chemistry on stage to provide a strong performance, vocalist Tom Napier put a lot of effort in trying to encourage the quiet crowd besides a few fans. With a new album coming out soon, there are certainly positives for this particular band to look forward to.
There was more anticipation building before State Champs took to the stage, a band who have seen a meteoric rise in popularity since the brilliant ‘The Finer Things’ album was released. In fact the whole seven songs in the set list were all from the recent album. For their first ever UK show, the band showed absolutely no nerves and were immediately involved with the crowd with the start. The crowd responded greatly with all seven songs having at least 30-40 fans singing along, the band responded positively and provided an excellent showcase of their own brand of angry and passionate pop punk. The crowd were able to catch their breath before the delivery of the final song ‘Elevated’ turned the crowd into a pack of wild animals, the band could not have expected so many ferocious fans and numerous crowd surfers making the security guards earn their pay. This tour can only push State Champs on to bigger opportunities in the future and I wish them all the very best.
Unfortunately it seemed that the crowd were conserving their energy during Boston’s A Loss For Words set who received a mixed reaction throughout, they played a great blend of their last three studio albums and threw a Jackson 5 cover in which took everyone by surprise. It was my first time seeing the band and I personally was not disappointed, I’ve always enjoyed the soulful vocals of Matty Arsenault and rhythmic instrumentals. The crowd came to some life when Matty demanded a circle pit during ‘Stamp of Approval’. A Loss For Words remain one of the most underrated pop punk bands in the American scene, I hope they come back and do a headline show soon to hopefully get a better reaction than this particular night.
Finally, The Wonder Years took to the stage. A band who have gone from headlining Le Pub in Newport to headlining the small CF10 in Cardiff to headlining Clwb Ifor Bach to now headlining the Great Hall 2. The venue seemed pretty full to see them play and there was much excitement amongst new and old fans. I personally thought they played a fantastic set list it had everything ranging from the latest songs like ‘Dismantling Summer’ and ‘Passing Through A Screen Door’- back to the superb Suburbia with tracks such as ‘Came out Swinging’ and ‘Local Man Ruins Everything’ and then back all the way to The Upsides with ‘Melrose Diner’ and even ‘Dynamite Shovel’.
Soupy was his usual emotional self describing stories between songs and informing the crowd that they had travelled 20 straight hours from Germany, they showed no sign and fatigue and connected superbly with the crowd. One particular highlight for me was the spectacular sing along provided by the track ‘Devil In My Bloodstream’ the whole crowd seemed to be in perfect harmony which echoed joy and passion across the venue. It had to be the most powerful and emotive moments of the night with aggressive and controlled vocals and an excellent keyboard solo from Nick Steinborn.
The Wonder Years remain kings of the pop punk genre in my opinion, it’s great to see them taking younger US bands on tour with them like State Champs to help the scene grow worldwide. The Wonder Years are definitely on the path to enjoying the same success as previous pop punk bands have in the last fifteen or so years.
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