A friday night, a sold out hometown show, a stacked lineup, and Chicagos own Knuckle Puck, what could be better? For everyone inside Chicagos Concord Music Hall there wasn’t any better as they watched a stacked lineup with a crowd who was ready to give it their all.
Kicking off the night was Connecticuts Anxious with their blend of hardcore / pop punk. With only a debut album under their belt the crowd had a size-able amount of people moshing, crowdsurfing and singing along. The band made sure to give nonstop energy which helped get the evening going.
If you haven’t seen Meet Me @ The Altar you should. They hit the stage and you could tell this was a crowd who knew who they were and were ready. The all woman group broke through with their blend of pop punk / rock / metal infused tunes and infectious energy that had the crowd going crazy. Featuring a melody of some of the genres biggest hits made the venue lose their mind while the band played with the biggest smile. For a band that only has an EP and singles the mark they are leaving on the scene already is impressive. If you haven’t seen them by now you should change that before they are headlining these same venues.
With one of 2021s best EP’s, Hot Mulligan sure did make the best they could out of covid and it sure showed here tonight. Blowing through a 50 minute set the band played a mix of songs from their EP and both albums while a loud crowd sang along to every word. Its quick to see how their brand of relatable “Post Emo” as they call it relates so much with the fans and crowd. I really hope to see them have a large headline tour this year.
Closing the night out was Chicago pop punk boys Knuckle Puck. Normally a 5 piece, the band played as a 4 piece due to drummer John Siorek having a broken arm. Bassist Ryan Rumchaks took drums and vocalist Joe Taylor took on bass with vocals. This made the live energy dynamic a bit different but they managed to keep it going.
For being the final night of the tour we did get some special moments including ex Real Friends, and fellow band member in Rational, Dan Lambton to come out during Evergreen. The entire tour lineup also came out during Untitled for the end of the song as well. Knowing the band was trying as a 4 piece made the crowd pick up too with sing alongs and crowd surfers at a constant rate. If theres one thing for sure Chicago loves pop punk and will always support their home town bands.
