Poison The Well celebrate 25 years of ‘The Opposite of December’ in Chicago

By Colette Custin

PTW 2025

Poison the Well’s 25th anniversary tour for The Opposite of December landed at the Salt Shed this week, bringing a stacked bill of metal core to the one of the city’s hottest venues.

Teenage Wrist started things off with a solid set as they continue their touring run for 2023’s Still Love, and New York hardcore quintet Better Lovers delivered a blistering set that leaned heavily into 2024’s Highly Irresponsible, including barnburners “A White Horse Covered in Blood” and open “Lie Between the Lines.” Midway through the band’s set, vocalist Greg Puciato stood atop a monitor, owning the stage like the biggest rock star in the world and calling for a circle pit as the band tore into “God Made Me An Animal” from the 2023 EP of the same name. And despite not having a new record since 2017’s Material Control, NY post- hardcore outfit Glassjaw made good on their reputation as a savage live band, with a massive portion of the crowd all-in on the experience.

Headliners Poison the Well, currently working on a new record which they’ve teased with recent single “Trembling Level” (which came across beautifully live), pulled out a seventeen song set, half of which focused on the entirely of 1999’s The Opposite of December.

“I know it’s Tuesday, but let’s make this shit really fucking memorable,” urged vocalist Jeffrey Moreira as the band concluded their set with “Nerdy.” Fresh off a retrospective boxed set of all their previous albums, it appears that Poison the Well is preparing to return in a big way, and the crowd at Salt Shed on Tuesday got an exciting sneak preview of one of metalcore’s biggest and best acts finding their way into the current scene again.