Words by Tracey Moyle – Music Maven
Photography by Samantha Townsend – @meltingwax_photography
Sunday night and despite the rain, music fans of all ages have coiled themselves around the block outside beloved Brisbane venue, The Tivoli, all with one thing in common: they’re here to see St. Louis pop-punks Story Of The Year. Tonight, the band are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut album ‘Page Avenue’.
The incoming post-hardcore/emo/pop-punk fans are in for a massive night with two epic bands as support. New Jersey punk rockers Senses Fail have joined in on the party also celebrating 20 years of their classic debut ‘Let It Enfold You’ along our own homegrown post-hardcore legends Behind Crimson Eyes on their last ever major support tour. Both have their own heavy fanbase within the crowd, as displayed proudly on many of the band shirts scattered about the room.
It will be a bag of mixed emotions for fans of Melbourne’s heavy hitters Behind Crimson Eyes, with the band last month announcing their upcoming retirement. This is their last major support slot until they head off on their final tour next year but tonight the fans and the band are making the most of the bittersweet moment and taking in every pounding note. The Tivoli crowd is sitting at about 70% capacity which is a good indicator of the level of respect Behind Crimson Eyes fans hold for these local legends.
The band hit the stage just before 8pm and after two decades, bringing homegrown crowds the best of Aussie post-hardcore, the boys look completely at ease. The fans erupt as they take the stage. Without any banter the night begins with full force as the music opens up.
Vocalist Josh Stuart puts everything into his performance as they play through their chosen set list. With two decades of songs to go on where do you start?
Right in the middle! The band opening up with Game of Life followed by The Art of War, both taken from their 2016 album, ‘Scream Out Your Name In The Night’. The fans soak it up, reliving their past.
Taking us back to 2006 with You’ve Had Your Chance, the crowd is pouring into the room. The banter on stage is minimal with the band wanting to fit in as many tracks as possible in their shorter opening slot. There is still time for Stuart to thank all the faithful fans who have come along tonight and for all the years they have supported Behind Crimson Eyes. He talks about a new EP coming out soon and announced there will be a final tour in 2025. The crowd roar out in appreciation, going off as they open up into their brutal new single, Dead.Drop.Dead. With massive breakdowns come massive mosh pits. This latest single no doubt will become one of their epic final tracks and brilliant ode to their career. After a few more songs, it was time to bid farewell to the crowd.
Arguably, saving the best until last, they bring the set to a close with their massive hit Shakedown, the band in tight musical unison, their charismatic frontman putting it all into this last burst.
One hell of an opener. The night had kicked off in a massive way. The big question right now was, do we try to squeeze through this massive crowd for another drink or stay put in our prime position. Two of us stayed put, one went for drinks. Compromise.
The night was running like clockwork with Senses Fail hitting the stage right on time. These New Jersey punks had a full fan base in the crowd with fans pouring in to capture the energy about to blast out through the room. Drummer Steve Carey walks on stage, setting himself up at his kit, the fans are ready for more. Jason, Dan and Gavin follow with guitars ready to go hard. Frontman, Buddy Nielsen bursts onto the stage, full of charisma and stage presence. The fans let loose as the band take the room back 20 years, playing through their 2004 epic debut.
Following the order of play they open up with memory jerkers Tie Her Down, Lady In A Blue Dress and You’re Cute When You Scream. The entire room is theirs with the packed venue singing along to every track. There are no surprises with a full album tour but no one cares. There’s a short interlude as Nancy Sinatra’s smooth, sultry voice rings out around the room “Bang Bang, (My Baby Shot Me Down)”. What could have been a random pause, segues perfectly into Buried A Lie’s opening riff.
Bite To Break Skin follows, with BCE‘s Josh Stuart joins the band on stage and the crowd surfing breaks out. My first shoe to the head for the night. The choices we make for a piece of upfront real estate. We are in for a ride.
They roll through the tracks. Buddy banters with the crowd about the differences between Aussie’s and Americans before going into the feature album’s title track. They round off with Martini Kiss but break into a mix of covers. A mashup of Chop Suey/Down With The Sickness/Break Stuff/Bulls On Parade then bookending it back into Martini Kiss. Crowd surfers, mosh pits, strained vocal cords. There was a magical chaos in motion in the crowd.
A breather was needed before the next set.
Sometimes the music playing in between sets will make up some special moments. Although often the song choices are random, it can definitely create a sing-a-long. Bon Jovi‘s Living On A Prayer blared out, and it was like The Tivoli had transformed into its own Pub Choir. It was loud and it was fun. But the true value was when Backstreet Boys came over the speakers singing, I Want it That Way. A seriously unexpected group interaction where literally everyone, even the bouncers up front, were singing along, grins on their faces, the quirky moment not lost on anyone. A true feel-good moment in the weirdest way. Like everyone discovering at once they had the same guilty pleasure.
Then, just like clockwork, the music stopped, the lights went down, and Story Of The Year explode onto the stage. The fans responding in kind, putting all their energy into a wave of frenzy rippling through the crowd. The Missouri rockers have been a staple in the pop-punk scene for almost three decades. Tonight’s punters were hyped up on memories of their younger selves completely dedicated to their idols. Listening to ‘Page Avenue’ doing whatever it was they were doing at the time.
There were fans of all ages, with SOTY their music has no age barriers with the crowd easily spanning across 4 decades in age. For a few hours nobody cared about being out on a ‘school night’. These days, half of the crowd probably work from home anyway. It is 2024, not 2004.
Powerful vocals from Dan Marsala opened the night the band bursting into the feature albums opening track, And The Hero Will Drown. They mixed it up to keep the crowd on their toes with Dive Right In next. Dan chats to the crowd about the tour and how he wasn’t looking forward to the 30 hour flight home the next day. From Divide and Conquer to Anthem Of Our Dying Day the fans were singing louder than the band. Marsala took the crowd into the title track opening the floodgates for a tsunami of crowd surfers.
He took time to chat the crowd about their latest album ‘Tear Me To Pieces’, announcing the next song had never been played live in Australia before. They took us into the popular track War. With everyone singing along, its clear that the band are still creating stellar tracks decades on.
Back to the album in the spotlight and Razorblades and Burning Years opened the pit in the tightly pack room. With so many albums to choose from they took fans on a journey through time, back to 2005 with We Don’t Care Anymore, the crowd were at their peak, moving forward to 2023 to Real Life then back to 2003 and more tracks from ‘Page Avenue’ and Swallow The Knife burst through the speakers.
By this stage of the night, the crowd were in the height of their frenzy. There was no such thing as personal space up front, and the crowd were surfing overhead at a pace that had the bouncers earning their pay cheques. One punter got carried out unconscious through Sidewalks after an ‘alleged’ blow to the head. Marsala paused before the next song to asked if the guy was okay and got the ‘thumbs up’. The frontman commented on this being a first, with the band never having a fight break out during a ‘slow song’. With the night was close to done, we were almost through the entire ‘Page Avenue’ but one more recent song with the brilliant title track from the latest album Tear Me To Pieces bringing out more energy from the crowd.
The night finished on an absolute high with the bands smash single Until The Day I Die powering up the crowds vocal cords out one last time, the entire room joining in with the band. Story Of The Year have a way of engaging with their fans, and that along with their high energy music, managed to bring a blanket of pure elated joy, mixed with emotional frenzy, across the crowd.
For those few hours at The Tivoli on Sunday night, everyone forgot about whatever else was happening in their outside world and just had fun. Music is powerful.
Thanks to Dallas Does PR
