LIVE REVIEW: Silverstein @ O2 Academy Islington, London
The dawn of the 2000s brought about a revolutionary time for humanity. As we overcame the nihilistic fears of the end of existence, music birthed into a new era and greeted us with the rise of nu-metal and the reinvention of emo. While nu-metal stormed MTV charts and shocked families across the globe emo was gearing up for a facelift, shedding its rage-fuelled hardcore instrumentals for a softer, sadder sound with the raw emotion now channelled into the lyricisms. Bands that paved this movement were the likes of JIMMY EAT WORLD, ALKALINE TRIO, DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL, and of course SILVERSTEIN and HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS.
SILVERSTEIN are now kicking off their 20th-anniversary tour, which sees them play three sets to highlight the beloved tracks and success of their career, bringing fitting support of their emo-siblings and previous tour mates HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS. This tour feels like a monumental moment for any fan and is sure to send you on a nostalgic trip down the rabbit hole of MySpace, swoopy bangs, hot topic wrist bands, and skinny jeans – the good ol’ days.
Anticipation prior to the event was rife, hordes of fans had already wrapped themselves around the venue three times over hours before showtime. For a band that first broke into the UK scene in 2005 to around 200 people in Barfly in Camden, London, seeing fans both old and new decked out in merch feels like a proud full-circle moment.
Dayton, Ohio’s own HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS set the night into motion with a reflective set that called back to their earliest works from the iconic The Silence In Black And White. The four-piece had just finished their own tour leg of 15-year celebrations for that album, so cracking open the vault once more for Ohio Is For Lovers and Silver Bullet felt like an exclusive treat. The raw emotions encapsulated in each track from a much younger JT Woodruff still evoke the same emotional calamity as they did 15-years ago, with the band becoming a muffled noise over the crowd screaming back every word. Straight out the gate, this show was more than just its live performance, the songs themselves have aged with its audience and can have an overwhelming hold of nostalgia over you that doesn’t really hit you until thousands of people around you are screaming back every word with every ounce of passion and emotion as the band, it was truly a unique and moving experience.
Rating: 8/10
In the age of reunion parades, with almost every dad rock and 80’s glam metal band resurfacing for yet another reunion to end all reunion tours, it becomes harder for musicians to celebrate their careers without it falling into the clichés or becoming an easy cash grab. But to their credit, SILVERSTEIN offered three unique sets that in themselves cater to the different crowds that the band attracts. In the first run, the Canadian four-piece hosted a highlights reel setlist that featured newer tracks Burn It Down, Infinite and work from their 2017 LP Dead Reflection but called back to some earlier releases from A Shipwreck In The Sand and This Is How The Wind Shifts. Fans who may have joined them in the later quarters of their career, after they shifted from emo-punk anthems to their later more vivacious pop-rock jams, would find themselves enjoying this. It probably would have been easier for them to play a track from each album but we’d imagine they wanted to avoid the obvious and cater to their newer fans. The result fared well for them as a lot of the older fans responded better to them playing the whole of their second album in full rather than just a few tracks.
Their second set was solely acoustic and featured an array of songs from over their career because SILVERSTEIN aren’t afraid to delve headfirst into a sea of all kinds of emotions. At first glance, acoustic sets might sound like a bore, but SILVERSTEIN sit in the unique limbo of being from the era of soft emo ballads. This resulted in a shift of an exciting atmosphere to emotional turmoil. Their soft acoustic songs that offered a platform for the overwhelming lyrics that were especially prominent in their earlier works and just made for one big, sad singalong.
Finalising their show, they paid homage to their 2005 masterpiece Discovering The Waterfront. Looking back to 2005, that year alone was revolutionary for society and arguably the peak of emo, pop-punk, and metal. With MySpace surfacing in the same year, bands and fans found solace online and the emo culture found a new home to grow. Discovering The Waterfront was pivotal for the band, this album launched them into their first UK tour in 2005 and found them on Warped Tour lineups by 2006, before that they’d been just another Canadian emo band bouncing from YMCA to Church gig around Canada. Given its history, it seems like the obvious fit to be played live, and for many fans who’d found that album through MySpace this gave them a chance to relive hearing that album for the first time once more. As mentioned, we think playing one of their older and more iconic album in full worked better than just a “greatest hits” lineup of songs, it creates a unique moment for their longest standing followers and highlights their growth as a band, with them now performing the songs after 15 year’s worth of practice that gives Discovering The Waterfront almost a new cutting edge.
This tour is undeniably one for the fans old and new, catering to all the pockets of their career in a fun and interesting approaches that stray away from clichés and gives fans one more chance to feel the same way they did when they first found SILVERSTEIN. Time to chop your bangs and dye them black, emo is not dead.
Rating: 8/10
Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in London from Ciara Wilkinson Media here:
