Australian hardcore band Speed burst onto the Salt Shed stage, immediately delivering Knocked Loose fans the high-energy show the fans needed to get their night started. Speed’s show energy in Chicago was as quick as their rise to greatness, which came to fruition when the band first played Sound and Fury in 2022. Vocalist Jem Siow has gained a reputation for being friendly as fuck, consistently showing his appreciation for every fan he meets. On stage, its more than clear that the excitement felt by the crowd begins with the band themselves, bouncing around and trading places on guitar and vocals. Just a few songs into their set, Siow passes the baton to the two-steppers waiting for their moment, shouting “this is YOUR pit”, prompting the wide open pit to fill up. The sound has classic mosh foundations and with just a few songs left, Siow delivers a speech about following your heart, that solidifies what this band is all about. Speed’s love for hardcore is about lifting up their Australian hardcore scene and giving Asian kids a reminder that they too deserve to be seen and heard.
Show Me The Body’s brooding, lengthy intro marked a downturn from Speed’s intense, fast set and while the set was good in it’s own right, I wish Speed would have been direct support for Knocked Loose. The goth-meets-hardcore with an electric banjo launched the mood of the night into the opposite direction and had me feeling like I was stuck on a rollercoaster, being brought up quickly only to be thrown down. While Knocked Loose’s direct support Loathe had similar low-key energy sonically, Kadeem France did a great job of engaging the crowd with fun dancing. Once the set change-over for Knocked Loose finally started, I was itching for that hit of high energy to bring me back to life.
The backdrop of Knocked Loose’s set, a re-creation of the cover of latest album You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To, is enough to require a semi-truck of production equipment. The Salt Shed is one of Chicago’s better venues (my personal favorite if we’re being honest) and only features buzz-worthy bands that sell out shows. This makes perfect sense to mark Knocked Loose’s success over the last year, also shown in the wide range of showgoers I found myself sharing the pit with and the “KLMF” merch line being out the door the entire time. As much as us old heads are annoyed by it, Knocked Loose is cool now and we can’t do anything to stop it. They are officially in their post-Coachella performance era and this arch is mimicking what we saw with Turnstile (although KL had the fortune of a faster timeline). The crowd’s voltage hadn’t dimmed at all, though, as there were not two, not three, but FOUR different pits during the entirety of the set. While Salt Shed has plenty of wide open space, I’ve never seen anything like it. Bryan Garris, dressed in a simple white button down, yells “FUCK IT UP CHICAGO” and I watch as a girl crowd surfs with a selfie stick. I’d ask if he was supposed to be Jesus, but there was actually a guy dressed like Jesus in the pit already. Twins? I vividly remember the first time I saw Knocked Loose a few years back and remember saying to my friends “I’m not going near that pit, I value my life”, but the hardcore brutality has certainly waned with their popularity increase, a sacrifice most bands are willing to make to further their careers. Can’t blame ‘em.
The band is still the same though, with the green-ish yellow glowing cross and forest trees flashing behind their steady intensity. Opening track “Blinding Faith” has that nu-metal sounding riff that works perfectly as a build-up to a cathartic release, followed by classic 2019 “Mistakes Like Fractures”. Each track was back lit by the primary color that matched it’s release, blue for A Different Shade of Blue and Laugh Tracks, red for A Tear In The Fabric Of Life, and green/yellow for latest You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To.
I saw myself out before the end of the set to try and catch a bus home and as I circled back around I heard the metal panels of the Salt Shed rattling like clanging armor. Although the city was illuminated by a full moon, there was no howling to be heard, it had all been let out inside the Salt Shed building.
