Another February in the life of a Montrealer only means one thing, Silverstein is back in town at Le National! The yearly rendezvous the band has given us was once again sold-out, with this time the boys from Four Year Strong to open for them. Let me tell you once again about how amazing a Silverstein show is. However, let’s get started with American pop-punk band Four Year Strong and their 12-song setlist.
Four Year Strong is no stranger to visiting Montreal and making us enjoy some good ol’ pop-punk as we love it. Despite 19 years of existence, Dan O’Connor and Alan Day always bring out their best to town and rock our socks off like there’s no tomorrow! The band made us discover a few songs from their latest record Brain Pain (that I strongly suggest you give a listen to as it’s quite great!), with their eponym song, as well as “Ger Out of My Head”, “Learn to Love the Lie”, and “Talking Myself in Circles” which is my personal favourite from this new record.
Four Year Strong did a wonderful job selling us that latest record, mixing melding pop-punk and melodic hardcore along with excellent stage presence for a performance we won’t forget anytime soon. Let’s be honest, I don’t feel like they took a lot of risk with this new record and the songs that come it, but for a longtime fan of the band like me, I couldn’t dream of anything better to spend my Saturday night listening to.
The band also brought us back to 2010, making us listen to the best of their Enemy of the World album, including “It Must Really Suck to Be Four Year Strong Right Now”, “Wasting Time (Eternal Summer), and “What the Hell Is a Gigawatt?”. All in all, the band shared with us a solid performance, showing us that they have nothing left to prove for the scene and that they’ll forever be pop-punk heroes that will be remembered, and will even go down in history shall I dare say?
Next up was my favourite band ever, Silverstein! The Canadians made us patiently wait to the sound of the ultimate pop-punk playlist with some good old Paramore, Underoath, Fall Out Boy, Taking Back Sunday, and A Day To Remember to only name a few. I’ve rarely enjoyed a show that much, I’ll be honest. Silverstein delighted us with one of the longest setlists I’ve ever listened to in my life: 26 songs (more if we count all the songs in the medley they played at some point).
Shane Told and friends started their set off with “Burn It Down”, a song that has originally been recorded with Beartooth’s Caleb Shomo, a real banger, giving a good taste of what’s to come. Needless to say, the energy was at its paroxysm throughout the first part of the set, where the band brought us throughout their 20+ years as a band from older the newer songs, never skipping a beat. This first part was followed by an acoustic set, with Shane Told being the main star of it, playing lighter versions of songs like “Massachusetts”, “Still Dreaming”, “Aquamarine”, or “Toronto (Unabridged)” that were a delightful break from the heavy guitars for a bit. However, 6 acoustic songs may have been too much at once as halfway through it I couldn’t wait to get back to riffs, screams, and moshpits around me.
Thankfully, the band delivered by playing Discovering the Waterfront in its entirety, bringing this 2005 classic back to life once again, with hits such as “Your Sword Versus My Dagger”, “Smile in Your Sleep”, “My Heroine”, and “Call It Karma”. Young emo teenage me was firing up inside, ready to scream “This isn’t a phase, mom!” The band ended their almost two-hour set with “Bleeds No More”, from their debut album When Broken Is Easily Fixed, proving once again that not only they have talent and an incredible stage presence, but that they’re able to keep going over and over even after over 20 years of career.
Four Year Strong Setlist
- It Must Really Suck to Be Four Year Strong Right Now
- We All Float Down Here
- Get out of My Head
- What the Hell Is a Gigawatt?
- Who Cares?
- Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die
- Learn to Love the Lie
- Brain Pain
- Maniac (R.O.D)
- Talking Myself in Circles
- Go Down in History
- Wasting Time (Eternal Summer)
Silverstein Setlist
- Burn It Down
- Retrograde
- A Great Fire / Vices / Broken Stars
- Face of the Earth
- Infinite
- Stand Amid the Roar / On Brave Mountains We Conquer / A Better Place / In Silent Seas We Drown / California / To Live and To Lose / This Is How The Wind Shifts / Arrivals / Departures
- Apologize (OneRepublic Cover)
- The Afterglow
- Massachusetts
- Still Dreaming
- Replace You
- Aquamarine
- Red Light Pledge
- Toronto (Unabridged)
- Your Sword Versus My Dagger
- Smile in Your Sleep
- The Ides of March
- Fist Wrapped in Blood
- Discovering the Waterfront
- Defend You
- My Heroine
- Always and Never
- Already Dead
- Three Hours Back
- Call It Karma
- Bleeds No More
Review – Maxime Le Huidoux
Photos – Mell Martella
