Knuckle Puck stopped at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ, on Friday, March 10th. This stop was part of their co-headline “Chilling and Rocking Across The USA” tour alongside Real Friends with support from Bearings. It was a cold and rainy Friday night, but that didn’t stop fans from lining up outside the venue and down the street before doors opened!
Bearings
Bearings is a pop-punk band formed in Ottawa, Ontario. They are joining Knuckle Puck and Real Friends for the first half of their tour. The way they took the stage made it hard to tell they were an opening band. The crowd took to them well and could be seen singing along to many of their songs.
Vocalist Doug Cousins is a great frontman who engaged with the crowd by getting as close as possible to the edge of the stage. Bearings have toured with bands like Four Year Strong, Less Than Jake, and State Champs. Next month they will support Mom Jeans on their Sweet Tooth World Tour in Canada. Bearings just released a music video for their new single, Scenery, which came out two weeks ago!
Bearings setlist:
Shaking Your Mind, Where You Are, Stuck in a Doorframe, Better Yesterday, Blue in the Dark, Scenery, Eyes Closed, Sway
Real Friends
Originally from Illinois, Real Friends is a pop punk band who is no stranger to Asbury Park or The Stone Pony. This was an extraordinary stop for Real Friends on their tour. They played at the same venue almost ten years ago on their first full US tour in May 2013. They thanked their fans for keeping them going for the past ten years and are hopeful about the next ten-plus. Before getting on stage, they played a recording to get the crowd excited about them coming out.
They opened with I’ve Given Up On You and played fan favorites spanning from over the years. Their new songs fit right in with the old ones and brought new energy to the stage. Real Friends writes songs their fans can connect to, and you could see that in the crowd as the fans sang along to every song. The members of Real Friends could be seen jumping up and down all over the stage. It was hard not to bounce around and sing along while taking photos.
Real Friends released their new album, There’s Nothing Worse Than Too Late, on February 24, 2023, with Pure Noise Records. The new video for their song “The Damage Is Done” came out two weeks ago!
Real Friends setlist:
I’ve Given Up On You, Tell Me You’re Sorry, Get By, Summer, Storyteller, Six Feet, Late Nights, Skin Deep, I Don’t Love You Anymore, Nervous Wreck, Teeth, From The Outside, Loose Ends, The Damage Is Done, Mess, Me First
Knuckle Puck
Knuckle Puck’s set was energetic from the moment they stepped on stage. There were a lot of blue and green lights to set the mood behind them. At multiple points throughout the show, the vocalist, Joe, just let the crowd sing since they were doing so loudly. He could be seen wearing a “Knuckle Puck Isn’t Cool Anymore…So What? T-shirt. The same t-shirt could be found at the merch table! He constantly had his arms out at his sides or held the microphone into the crowd. The band members went to the drum kit to show John some love. You could also hear co-lead vocals from Nick, who plays rhythm guitar, and Ryan, who provided backing vocals.
Surprisingly Knuckle Puck didn’t play any of the songs of their most recent EP, which came out in 2022. They opened with Disdain which is a crowd favorite and has a very upbeat opening to it. Right from the start, the band and the crowd bounced. The song goes back and forth from having high energy to calming down and then right back up to high energy, which is fun at a concert. It allows the fans to rock out and sing to the emotional chorus.
Knuckle Puck played a lot of older fan favorites which the crowd enjoyed. Most of their songs came from their two albums Copacetic from 2015 and Shapeshifter from 2017. Many of their fans have stuck with them since then, so it was nice to hear them sing along to their older songs. They also played their single Fences from 2014 and No Good from their The Weight That You Buried EP in 2013. The new addition, Groundhog Day, which they played in the middle of the set, fit in well with the rest. The crowd was crowd-surfing from the first song and continued until the end of their set.
Knuckle Puck comprises vocalist Joe Taylor, guitarist/vocalist Nick Casasanto, guitarist Kevin Maida, drummer John Siorek, and bassist Ryan Rumchaks. They are an aggressive pop-punk band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 2010. Their latest ep, Disposable Life, released through Wax Bodega, came out on February 4, 2022. They released another new single, Groundhog Day, eight months later, on October 20, 2022.
This single is about repeating the same habits in a depressed state and then deciding to change your ways. They released their new song and announced they signed with Pure Noise Records on the same day! They are working on a new record that will be out later this year. All three bands on this stop are now a part of Pure Noise Records, and are excited to work with them.
Their stop in Asbury Park, NJ, occurred at The Stone Pony. On my way to the concert, when I called my grandmother, she quickly reminded me that Bon Jovi and Springsteen had started their careers at The Stone Pony!
The last time Knuckle Puck was in Asbury Park was in November of 2022 at Asbury Lanes. They were a special guest on Four Year Strong’s Enemy of The World tour along with Microwave and Youth Fountain. The first show in Asbury Park sold out so quickly that they had to add another date. Their co-headline tour stop at The Stone Pony this year with Real Friends sold out just as quickly!
Knuckle Puck setlist:
Disdain, Double Helix, Tune You Out, Everyone Lies To Me, What Took You So Long?, Wall To Wall, True, Contrite, Groundhog Day, But Why Would You Care?, Fences, No Good, Want Me Around, Evergreen, Untitled, Gone, Pretense
Be sure to catch Knuckle Puck on the remainder of their tour; you won’t regret it!
