Silverstein and The Amity Affliction have been taking the USA and Canada by storm on their current co-headlining tour! Along for the journey are Holding Absence and UnityTX getting the crowd fired up each night. I was lucky enough to be in attendance on Saturday night when the tour rolled into New Jersey at my favorite venue of all time, Starland Ballroom.
It’s rare these days for an opening band to have a full crowd, as people tend to trickle in late, but that wasn’t the case for Dallas-based UnityTX. Starting off the night with a bang, these guys really knew how to bring the energy with their unique fusion of hardcore and hip-hop. Vocalist, Jay Webster, was a master on the mic as he dominated the stage. Looking for the nearest circle pit? Look no further! UnityTX can get one going faster than any band out there. Opening the set with RUCKUS certainly set the pace and intensity for the night and there was no stopping them! Their latest release, MADBOY, is currently available everywhere via Pure Noise Records.
Up next all the way from Cardiff, Wales was Holding Absence and they certainly kept the energy up. Lead singer Lucas Woodland had an insane amount of energy as he jumped around the stage effortlessly without missing a single note. Guitarist, Scott Carey, delivered bone-crunching riffs, which meshed perfectly with the driving percussion courtesy of Ashley Green. Most bands from across the pond dream of touring the States and you could tell they were soaking it all in. Fan favorites from the set included Aching Longing, Curse Me With Your Kiss, and Wilt. Their latest album, The Greatest Mistake of My Life, is available via SharpTone Records.
The crowd was fired up and the first co-headliner was about to take the stage. The house lights went out and a sea of green lights lit the stage. Australian metalcore heavy hitters, The Amity Affliction, took their place and jumped right in with Coffin, sending fans into a frenzy. Starland Ballroom has some of the best security in the business and they were certainly given a workout as they caught every single crowd surfer flying over the barricade (I had to dodge quite a few as I worked my way through the pit). Joel Birch delivered his hauntingly beautiful heavy vocals while hundreds of fans sang along to every song. This fifteen-song set gave fans everything they wanted and more, consisting of All My Friends Are Dead, Chasing Ghosts, and their encore, Soak Me In Bleach, which had the room shaking! This was my first time seeing The Amity Affliction and I’m certainly looking forward to their return!
The moment we were all waiting for was upon us. Silverstein stormed the stage and hit us with Infinite from their 2020 release A Beautiful Place To Drown. The room was electric and the band was firing on all cylinders as Shane Told (lead vocals) gave us the performance of a lifetime. There’s always something special about Silverstein performing at Starland Ballroom (they even released a limited live album recorded here earlier this year) and it all just hits differently. Paul Marc Rousseau (lead guitar) and Josh Bradford (rhythm guitar) are absolute fretboard wizards as they melted faces with their heavy riffs and blistering leads. Billy Hamilton (bass) and Paul Koehler (drums) were the driving force behind it all as I felt each beat punching me in the chest from across the room.
There’s no doubt at all that Silverstein has solidified their place in the music scene over the past two decades with eleven incredible albums and countless tours. The night raged on with nostalgic tunes like Smile In Your Sleep and Smashed In To Pieces, which teleported us right back to the early 2000s. How does a band keep their setlist fresh when they have so many songs to choose from you might ask? The Wheel of Songs! Guitar tech extraordinaire, Kyle Yocum, brought out a Wheel of Fortune style wheel adorned with several deep cuts and various songs spanning their career. One young fan got to spin first landing on The Artist, followed by two more spins yielding Already Dead and Still Dreaming. Hearing The Alter/Mary live for the first time was insanely cool as well.
One of the biggest highlights of the night was when the band performed My Heroine and the entire crowd (yes, every single person in the room) sang along so loudly that it brought a tear to my eye. It’s several days later at this point and my voice is still hoarse from trying to keep up! Silverstein closed out the night with fan favorite, The Afterglow. Are you like me and can’t get enough of these guy? Their latest album Misery Made Me is an absolute banger and available worldwide via UNFD!
