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Show review: The Story So Far and Neck Deep draw a huge crowd in Chicago
Chicago’s Salt Shed Fairgrounds is a pretty large space at a 4k capacity and pop-punk giants The Story So Far and Neck Deep packed the place.
Hardcore group Pain of Truth, who seem to be hopping on quite a few mixed-genre tours lately, kicked off the night. While they aren’t pop-punk, they’re a great addition to this tour as a hype introduction and might create new hardcore fans. By the time Origami Angel took the stage, the fairgrounds started to fill up quickly with the smell of tacos, hot dogs and beer drifted above the crowd.
Neck Deep took the stage as the sun went down starting off with their most-recent protest track “We Need More Bricks” as vocalist Ben Barlow left no piece of stage untouched by his high energy movements. Recently releasing their deluxe version of their self-titled record Neck Deep (The Dumbfuck Edition), Neck Deep fans across the U.S. will be treated to a setlist full of their OG bangers and brand new singles.
The Story So Far (© Alex Valentovich for Breaking Scene Media)
For the final punch, The Story So Far took the stage for a 23-song set, the longest set I’ve seen from them in my 5+ times, with upbeat “Big Blind” as the first. From there, the band works their way slowly backwards through all their albums and EPs with little time for banter in between, although even if they had all the time in the world I doubt Parker Cannon would say much more. An incredible songwriter, Cannon keeps fans around purely with the music and not a certain energy or personality. It’s common knowledge that Cannon’s side project No Pressure is where fans can witness more of the fun-loving, DIY energy from him and The Story So Far shows remain an ongoing tribute to Liam Gallagher‘s stage presence. Fans have learned that at these shows, bringing the energy is their job. If we want an ape-shit show, we have to provide it and the Salt Shed fans understood the assignment.
The moment TSSF took the stage, crowd-surfers leapt onto shoulders like it was their last time hearing “Empty Space”, with multiples flying through the air at all times. Even between songs surfers reached up towards the sky. The set ended in two overall favorites “Clairvoyant” and “Quicksand” as usual, the Chicago night air still lightly buzzing as the sound waves faded and fans were left with another night of perfect pop-punk memories.