Yesterday marked the beginning of Silverstein’s 10-year anniversary tour for its second record, Discovering the Waterfront. The London Music Hall (in London, ON) had the privilege of being the first venue of many to host one of the biggest tours of early 2015, and it was the perfect setting and way to kick off a tour like this.
The first band on the bill was California’s My Iron Lung. Playing a style of post-hardcore/screamo similar to Touché Amoré, My Iron Lung brought a lot of emotion and passion to the stage. The band played a handful of songs from 2014’s Relief as well as two songs from 2012’s Grief before closing with “Here’s to the Collaborative Effort Made by All Things Under the Sun,” which was the most impressive song of the set.
New Jersey’s Major League, hot off the release of its second full-length record, was next. Opening and closing the set with the first and last track from There’s Nothing Wrong With Me, Major League’s set was heavily loaded with newer material that was recorded after the departure of the original vocalist last year. Brian Joyce, who was always in the band as a guitarist, fills the role as lead vocalist quite nicely and gives the band a more mature sound. That being said, the band did play “Homewrecker” from 2012’s Hard Feelings and seemed particularly energized while playing that song and the closing “Rittenhouse.”
The next band to take the stage was Ohio’s Beartooth. Similar to Major League, Beartooth played a plethora of newer songs – and almost ran through the entirety of its debut record, Disgusting. The crowd really started to get into it as bodies were moving (or flying) everywhere, presumably because Beartooth was the heaviest band of the tour package. Excited fans were constantly overstaying their welcome on stage after crowd surfing or before stage diving, but it didn’t phase the band; if anything, those interactions were encouraged, as most of those fans received a high-five or the mic for a few seconds.
After taking no more than 10 minutes to set up, Hands Like Houses played next. Playing a unique style of experimental post-hardcore, these five blokes from Down Under rocked the house. Vocalist Trenton Woodley certainly has some pipes; I had chills during several songs because of the notes he was consistently hitting that I didn’t think were possible in a live setting. The highlights of the set were “Don’t Look Now, I’m Being Followed, Act Normal” and “Introduced Species” – but I think the best part of the set was the fact that the entire band brought a lot of energy and smiles with them across the globe.
Even though Silverstein was headlining and was the whole reason this tour was possible, these locals had some big shoes to fill; every supporting band put on an impressive set and they each seemed to get even better as the night rolled on. Silverstein was up to the task, though. The band played a song or two from nearly every album in its catalogue as well as the newly released single, “A Midwestern State of Emergency,” before getting into the whole reason why everyone was here: to see Silverstein play Discovering the Waterfront from start to finish. Experiencing that album live in its entirety was something special and the entire venue was jumping and singing several times throughout the set, but even more so during the last 11 songs.
When Silverstein’s set ended, I left with a huge smile on my face – and I’m sure everyone else did, too. Every band that played brought something new to the table, which was a nice change from the typical “four bands playing metalcore” tour package. This was only the first date of many, so you still have a lot of time to plan a trip to see this tour.
