A Day to Remember headlined an indelible Sunday night at Azura

A Day to Remember. // photo by Emily Jacobs

It was quite literally A Day To Remember at Azura Ampitheatre Sunday evening, with a stacked lineup that included Militarie Gun, Four Year Strong, and The Story So Far. Cleverly dubbed “The Least Anticipated Album Tour”—poking fun at their lack of an announcement for their next album—it was far from being the least memorable.

Militarie Gun. // photo by Emily Jacobs

LA punk outfit Militarie Gun was a fun start to the night. Their lineup consists of vocalist Ian Shelton, guitarists William Acuña and Nick Cogan, bassist Waylon Trim, and drummer Vince Nguyen. Shelton, donning a military vest with the initials “MG” on it, and his yelling vocals went along perfectly with their more melodic take on punk. He mentioned their newest album, Life Under The Gun—which, along with simply enjoying their set, prompted me to check it out after the show.

I just saw Four Year Strong open for Story of the Year in November, and once again, they didn’t disappoint. This time, they played two singles that have dropped since then, “uncooked” and “daddy of mine,” which are slated to be on their new album, Analysis Paralysis that is set to release in August—along with “Dead End Friend.” They played three of their most popular songs—”It Must Really Suck to Be Four Year Strong Right Now,” “We All Float Down Here,” and “Wasting Time (Eternal Summer)”—along with a couple of songs off of their most recent album, Brain Pain.

Four Year Strong. // photo by Emily Jacobs

I’m inclined to be partial to their older music for nostalgic reasons, but Four Year Strong’s newest singles hold up against the rest of their discography, still maintaining their classic “easycore” sound without sounding like the same song made over and over again. In fact, while I liked them when I listened to the songs before the show, I enjoyed them even more live.

Even though about half of the crowd knew them, that didn’t stop Four Year Strong from bringing the same amount of passion that they would to a headlining tour. Alan Day and Dan O’Connor collaborate flawlessly on both lead vocals and guitars, with bassist Joe Weiss and drummer Jake Massucco providing the icing on the cake.

The Story So Far, named after a New Found Glory song, blew up in terms of popularity during the “Defend Pop Punk” era of the early 2010s with their edgier take on the genre. With lead vocalist Parker Cannon’s talent for poetic lyricism, they’re my favorite band to come out of that era, so I was incredibly stoked to see them live again.

They played the singles of their next album, I Want To Disappear—which drops on June 21—including “All This Time” and “Letterman,” songs about Cannon coping with his grief at the recent passing of his father. The remainder of their setlist pretty evenly encompassed their previous four albums. This included angsty breakup tracks like “Roam” and “Things I Can’t Change,” and songs that tackled the issue of addiction, like “Proper Dose” and “Out of It.”

The Story So Far. // photo by Emily Jacobs

The Story So Far’s lineup recently underwent some changes with the departure of their longtime bassist in 2022. Their current lineup consists of lead guitarist Kevin Geyer; Ryan Torf, who plays drums and bass in studio, but rhythm guitar live; and rhythm guitarist Will Levy, with touring musicians Mike Ambrose on drums and Nik Bruzzese on bass. However, based on their performance, this lineup appears to be working out well for them.

One aspect that’s often noted of The Story So Far’s live performances is that Cannon tends to stay close to the mic throughout the set, with people drawing comparisons to Liam Gallagher of Oasis—literally, if you Google him, one of the first results is a Reddit thread discussing that very topic. I think this is valid—anyone whose birth year begins with ‘19’ is not obligated to leap and bound across a stage for 45 minutes.

Also, their music stands on its own without needing anything extra. I was apparently not alone in my opinion, as I was surrounded by people who sang all the words to each song, and even had one concertgoer tell me he only came to see The Story So Far.

The sun set as The Story So Far concluded their set with “Nerve,” and then the crowd bubbled with anticipation for 35 minutes as they waited for A Day To Remember to take the stage.

At 9:25, A Day To Remember exploded onto the stage with the heavier “Sticks and Bricks”—the opening track on A Day To Remember’s fourth album, What Separates Me From You—in a flurry of blue, yellow, and red lights and a burst of confetti. What followed was a staggering 23-track setlist, pulling songs from all except for the first of their seven albums, with an array of special effects. This included steam, flames, a guy dressed as Mario shooting t-shirts into the audience, and throwing rolls of toilet paper into the crowd.

“This setlist we’re gonna play for you guys tonight is something of an experiment,” said lead vocalist Jeremy McKinnon, to cheers from the crowd. “Some songs are gonna been longer, some songs are gonna be shorter, but we’re gonna play a fucking lot more than usual.”

They played classics like “Have Faith in Me” and “If It Means a Lot to You,” deeper cuts that hadn’t been played in years like “Violence (Enough Is Enough)” and “My Life for Hire,” and newest singles “Miracle” and “Feedback.” Of course, they couldn’t miss “Mr. Highway’s Thinking About the End” with its most iconic pre-breakdown shout—”Disrespect your surroundings!” or “All Signs Point to Lauderdale” with the catchy line, “I hate this town, it’s so washed up, and all my friends don’t give a fuck”—one I related to heavily as a teenager growing up in a small town. Many fans remarked that it was their best setlist in years; I would heartily agree.

Luckily, they mostly stuck to songs from their first five albums. Their last two were misses for me, with the exception of a few tracks—such as “Paranoia,” which was part of their setlist. It’s less that the albums are bad, and more that they just aren’t distinctly A Day To Remember—they sound like they could’ve been written by any band.

Most of A Day To Remember’s discography is a mix of heavier songs with more hardcore influences, fun pop-punk tracks, and slower acoustic tunes. This variety combined with catchy lyrics attracted a great deal of fans in the late 2000s and 2010s. Each member of the band—including McKinnon, lead guitarist Kevin Skaff, rhythm guitarist Neil Westfall, and drummer Alex Shelnutt—is remarkably talented in their own right. Their touring bassist, Bobby Lynge, whom McKinnon stated had just learned all of the songs for the tour, was also particularly impressive and fit right in.

The night ended with “The Downfall of Us All,” the opening track on A Day To Remember’s third album, Homesick. Even after 23 songs and three other bands before that, I wasn’t ready for the night to end. But I left feeling as if I’d had an out-of-body experience, which improved my patience getting out of the Azura Ampitheater parking lot. The post concert-depression is real, but far more than worth it for a concert that’s in the running for my favorite of the year.

All photos by Emily Jacobs

A Day To Remember

A Day To Remember setlist
Sticks & Bricks
All I Want
2nd Sucks
Paranoia
I’m Made of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made Of?
Right Back at It Again
Miracle
Violence (Enough Is Enough)
Mindreader
Rescue Me (Marshmello cover)
Have Faith in Me
My Life for Hire
Feedback
Since U Been Gone
You Be Tails, I’ll Be Sonic
Mr. Highway’s Thinking About the End
Resentment
All Signs Point to Lauderdale
The Danger in Starting a Fire
This Is the House That Doubt Built
If It Means a Lot to You
—
It’s Complicated
The Downfall of Us All

The Story So Far

The Story So Far setlist
Big Blind
Keep This Up
All This Time
Heavy Gloom
High Regard
Bad Luck
Watch You Go
Out of It
Things I Can’t Change
Proper Dose
Letterman
Framework
Roam
Nerve

Four Year Strong

Four Year Strong setlist
Brain Pain
It Must Really Suck to Be Four Year Strong Right Now
uncooked
daddy of mine
We All Float Down Here
Dead End Friend
Get Out of My Head
Wasting Time (Eternal Summer)

Militarie Gun