I'm not sure what I was expecting, except having seen an explosive headlining act just the night before may have given me a false sense of expectation. Four Year Strong has been in the biz long enough to know that they need to get their production together.
With an incredible lineup to boot, the band has really built an exceptional wall of support throughout the years. Crowds and crowds get bigger each year with their Warped appearances starting to become mythical in nature. So perhaps after years of following the band and seeing their peers grow and explode beside them as well as reinvesting in themselves and their live show, I was expecting tonight to be the night where the act finally took it to the next level.
Superheaven was a true joy rocking out with opener "All The Pain," easily one of the strongest tracks off their most recent release. The rest of their set was a run down of a few classic tracks off their debut. They could have easily played for another thirty minutes. The turn out didn't get stronger until half way through Defeater's set, and it's obvious many were just becoming exposed to the band for the first time. It seems as if the crowd that sold out the Basement show in 2014 and got to Webster Hall early for the openers was nowhere to be found. Elder Brother had played before, but I didn't have the patience for the performance of a one man show with an electric guitar on the clean channel singing with a mediocre angle, and headed to the merch booths instead.
It was BAU with Defeater as great crowd participation is always expected and the constant pummeling performance from the crew once again made itself instantly apparent. While I think the act personally works better in a more intimate setting like Studio at Webster or Santo's, Defeater prove once again that they can deliver regardless of the platform. I'm not sure what their set was like in Download 2015, but I'm sure they made a name for themselves and it's nice to see them back on the road.
And then we have the headlining act. I can't say Four Year Strong don't have a ton of energy. Each song comes at you faster than before, and they really don't seem to slow it down at all. I'm not sure if they were speeding through their first few tracks, but they were playing the songs I was familiar with at a speed you couldn't even groove to.
The crew had two crew members dressed as zebras with the whole set displaying a hypnotizing zig zagged layout. However at the cost of $32.00 and not really getting any production, I felt a little shorted. Just the night before I had seen a show for $39 of much higher caliber. It really is time to put effort into the set. Especially if you've been a band for so many years and have fans coming to the shows who have been coming since your debut. It's crucial to provide an incentive to return. Now I'm certainly an advocate of letting the music speak for itself, but for the high ticket value it has to be mutually beneficial. This wasn't an $8 club show.
Although the night before had a very minimal package with two seemingly less relative bands (Issues and pvris), I would much rather prefer to get a better value for a stronger production and leave the show being blown away.
(Superheaven rocking out their tunes)
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