Review: Four Year Strong Concert

BY JEREMY HAAS

On Tuesday, Nov. 2nd, I was standing alongside a group of teens waiting eagerly to get into The Culture Room.  Four Year Strong was performing the “Tonight We Feel Alive” tour, headlining with The Wonder Years.

After the opening groups, The Wonder Years took the stage, being led by a slightly older Dan Campbell.  They began their performance with the song “Logan Circle” which really got everyone pumped for the rest of the night. It’s truly a shame their set was as short as it was, coming in at eight songs.  Even when the ecstatic audience begged for an encore, The Wonder Years played no more.

Though the lack of an encore was disappointing, it was quickly forgotten once Four Year Strong, the beard wearing pop punk act, ripped into their song “What the Hell is a Gigawatt?”; the crowd seemed to become twice as big and twice as excited.

Throughout the performance, Four Year Strong kept up their energy.  Distorted power chords blared in all directions as pop punk was demonstrated in the most stereotypical way.  The music, the sound, and the crowd could all be described as rocking.  Everyone in the audience was thrilled as the band kept up the volume and quality, playing with almost record like perfection.

The set consisted of the majority of songs from Four Year Strong’s two original albums.  This of course satisfied fans, because most of their written material was played.  Along with the phenomenal performance of the band, everybody watching seemed to sing along to the music. Four Year Strong seem to be aware of what their fans want and happy to deliver it to them.

The show had almost no imperfections, yet I would have really liked to hear Four Year Strong play some songs off of their cover album “Explains it All”. This CD covers some great alternative hits from the 90’s and seems to make them as intense as music can get.

Memorable moments for the band were “Tonight We Feel Alive”, “One Step at a Time”, and the encore “Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die”.  “Tonight We Feel Alive” was an apex of excitement for the show.  The sing-along chant and fast paced nature of the song is really what got things moving and set the band up for anything but failure.

Throughout the rest of the show, energy was nonstop, until the band took a short break to grab their acoustic guitars and sauntered into the campfire feeling song “One Step at a Time.”  This track really gave me a sense of belonging to where I was, and it also showed Four Year Strong’s softer side.  It was a perfect break from the tension and buzz and it set the band up quite perfectly for their finale “Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die”. This track was unadulterated perfection on a stick.  It’s no wonder they use it as an encore.  The crowd seemed to love this more than any other song, the chorus was extremely catchy and the music showed off even more diversity.  This is mostly shown through the breakdown at the end of the song, which cuts away from the fun music into a hardcore pit of awesome.

This show was intense, powerful, and amazing. Four Year Strong make great music and put on a great show.  It’s a major hope that they will continue being the rock stars that they are and be around for many years to come.