On April 6th, 2024- Bayside performed on their “There Are Worse Things Than Being Alive” tour with special guests; Winona Fighter, Armor For Sleep, and Finch! The night was filled with so many different generations that all came for one reason; To rock out and sing along to their favorite songs!
Winona Fighter
Opening the night was; a band formed in Nashville, TN consisting of; Coco (Vocals) , Dan Fuson (Guitar) , and Austin Luther (Bass/Producer) called Winona Fighter!. The band is all about welcoming everyone and making sure egos are not in the crowd because they want everyone to have a great time! They opened for bands such as Motion City Soundtrack and Incubus! I’ve personally never listened to them before and the amount of energy they had on stage; they caught my attention very quickly and I instantly became a fan! Winona Fighter recently signed to Rise Records on March 7th, 2024! Also on March 7th; they released their newest single and video for “I’m In The Market To Please No One” with over 100k Spotify plays! This is what the frontman Chloe stated about the new single; “It doesn’t take a genius to hear that ‘I’M IN THE MARKET TO PLEASE NO ONE’ came from a place of anger. However, it means so much more than that. I had recently found an unsent letter to a boy I had known in college, the type of boy you wish you had never met. In this letter, I sounded so powerless. It made me feel gross, but it also made me realize I have the opportunity to get how I really feel, after years of growth, all out on paper. Thus IM IN THE MARKET was born. Did you know one in three young, excited, full of potential women go to college and experience dating abuse of some sort? I wrote this song for them. I wrote it for my friends, my family, and even myself. More than it coming from a place of anger, it comes from a place of power. It comes from a place of wanting to start a conversation. I want people to be able to scream this song, mosh to this song, feel like they can gain control of their narrative.”
Winona Fighter has easily become one of my favorites after that night because everyone on stage had intense energy that set the tone for the rest of the show!
Armor For Sleep
Armor For Sleep; The next band up to perform was Armor For Sleep and I actually saw them Last year on their 20th anniversary tour and I’ve been a fan of them for over a decade. The band formed in 2001 in New Jersey and the vocalist Jergensen stated; “I guess when I started the band I was kind of; like retreating in my room and I kind of couldn’t really fall asleep, so I started playing music. I just thought of the name Armor For Sleep, because it was really, the music was keeping me from passing out! Which was something I was procrastinating on!” The band consists of; Ben Jergensen (Lead vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Piano) , PJ DeCicco (Lead Guitar) , Anthony Dilonno (Bass/Back Vocals) , Nash Breen (Drums) , and touring member Nate Novarro (Drums/Percussion). Their performance was amazing as usual and I'm so glad I was able to photograph them a second time! The crowd constantly sang along to their songs especially this one girl that was at the barricade; she was crying and embracing the moment which is amazing to see what music does to people emotionally. The band performed songs such as; Remember to Feel Real, Dream to Make Believe, and Stay On The Ground!
Finch
Finch; Post hard-core band from Temwcula, California formed in 1999 consisting of; Nate Barcalow (Vocals/Keyboard) , Randy “R2K” Strohmeyer (Lead Guitar/Back Vocals) , Alex “Grizz” Linares (Rhythm Guitar) , Alex Pappas (Drums) , and Kenny Finn (Bass). The band was originally called Numb, but when they released their EP Falling In Place in 2001, they changed their name to Finch! At the moment; Finch currently has 400k spotify listeners with the most popular album being What It Is To Burn released in 2002 with What It Is To Burn being the most popular song with 29 million spotify plays! When they performed Letters to You and What It Is To Burn; I literally screamed internally because I'm obsessed with these songs and to finally hear them live; I felt like my teenage self would be so proud of me! Watching the crowd at the barricade sing along and reaching over the barricade to try to capture the attention of the vocalist; it was like a movie that I didn’t want to end!
Bayside
Here is the band that everyone was waiting for; Bayside! Bayside is an American punk rock band from Bayside, Queens formed in 2000 consisting of; Anthony Raneri (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar) , Jack O’Shea (Lead Guitar/Back Vocals) , Nick Ghanbarion (Bass) , and Chris Guglielmo (Drums), Founders Raneri and Mike Kozak got the bands name during October of 2000 when they were heading to a New Found Glory show in Long Island and they had a demo CD they wanted to give them; So when they passed Bayside train station; they wrote Bayside on the demo and stayed with it! Since formation; the band has released eight-full length albums; Sirens and Condolences, Bayside, The Walking Wounded, Shudder, Killing Time, Cult, Vacancy, and Interrobang!
On April 5th; Bayside released their newest album “There Are Worse Things Than Being Alive” digitally via Hopeless Records! Physical copies will be available on May 10th, 2024! Raneri stated about the tour when interviewed; “We’re so excited to be touring with a couple of real pioneers in this genre. It’s been close to 20 years since we played a show with either band. So excited to finally run it back.” Bayside is all about creating music that will capture everyone's attention and tend to not stick to one style of genre. I have never seen this band perform before; so it was an amazing opportunity to see them live and photograph at the same time to capture the wonderful moments of the show! The band performed songs such as; Two Letters, Good Advice, and Already Gone!
This is the tour that everyone should come out to see especially if you’re an elder emo like myself! Get out to one of the shows and come support all the musicians on this lineup! Each band brought a different type of energy and that's what a show is all about; diversity!
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