On June 18th, A Day To Remember made their stop in Canada at the Theatre at the Great Canadian Resort, on their "Least Anticipated Album Tour" with support from Militarie Gun, Four Years Strong and The Story So Far. The 5000 capacity venue was packed with energetic fans ready to jump and mosh to everything the bands had to offer.
First to tear up the stage was Militarie Gun, a post hardcore band from Los Angeles. The five piece band composed of vocalist Ian Shelton, guitarists Nick Cogan and William Acuña, dummer Vince Nguyen and bassist Max Epstein set a good mood for all the early comers to the show. Despite only having been a band for two years, Militarie Gun brought a set that infested the crowd with energy, and had people singing, jumping and crowdsurfing. Their songs got both the early-comers and the stragglers excited for what the night was to bring.
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The second performers in the night’s four band lineup was Four Year Strong, a from Worcester, Massachusetts. Formed in 2001, the band lineup consists of vocalists and guitarists Dan O'Connor and Alan Day, bassist Joe Weiss and drummer Jake Massucco. Right from their enterance, these guys were moving, running from one end of the stage to the other. Vocal responsibility would switch between O'Connor and Day, giving both members the ability to sing and to run around the stage like madmen. Four Year Strong brought a shift in the air towards a more pop-punk and melodic hardcore direction, which was a compliment to the previous band's set. A few mosh pits and breakdowns later, their set drew to a close, but they weren't soon to be forgotten.
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The third band of the night was the main support, The Story So Far. A band since 2007, vocalist Paker Cannon, lead guitarist Kevin Geyer, rhythm guitarist Kevin Ambrose, bassist Kelen Capener and drummer Ryan Torf shifted the energy in the Theatre once again. The pop-punk band both soothed the crowd with lovely melodies from Cannon and amped them up for our headliners. But don't be fooled, The Story So Far definitely brought back some hardcore and metalcore-adjacent sounds, keeping with the vibe the previous two bands set. Even three bands in, the crowd brought their all, with fans singing along to popular songs like "Letterman" and even their new song, "Watch You Go". Overall, The Story So Far delivered a stellar opening performance, sending the crowd off with more than enough energy as they awaited the headliners, A Day To Remember.
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Finally, after a quick rebuilding of the stage and a short snippet from the theme from "Rocky", A Day To Remember, composed of vocalist Jeremy McKinnon, rhythm guitarist Neil Westfall, drummer Alex Shelnutt lead guitarist Kevin Skaff and touring bassist Bobby Lynge finally took to the Theatre's stage, starting off with a bang. Literally. As soon as "Sticks & Bricks" began, confetti cannons went off and showered the crowd with colourful snips of tissue paper.
That confetti cannon would be the first of a night of surprises. The setlist never slowed down, continuing with head-banging hits such as "All I Want", "Paranoia", and "I'm Made of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made Of?". Even this early in the set, A Day To Remember was causing chaos, encouraging the fans to try out their infamous crowdsurfing on top of a crowdsurfer. When they played again, eleven crowdsurfers on top of crowdsurfers were counted by McKinnon, who congratulated Toronto for having the most crowdsurfers on top of crowdsurfers. Toronto always brings the heat.
After their cover of Marshmello's "Rescue Me", they played the ever-adorable "Have Faith In Me", which McKinnon dedicated to "all the ladies in the crowd". Following that, they announced that they wanted to mess with the setlist a bit for this show, and surprised the crowd with the intro to "My Life For Hire". Personally, I thought these two songs one right after another was perfect. Afterwards, they would go onto play their newest song, "Feedback".
Following "Feedback", McKinnon introduced their touring bassist, Bobby Lynge and talked about how the next song they would play was one Lynge requested to play, but McKinnon had been saying no to forever. Finally, they played their infamous cover of Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone". Following that would be more hits and more moshing to "You Be Tails, I'll Be Sonic", "Mr. Highway's Thinking About The End" and "All Signs Point To Lauderdale." Another surprise would come with "Lauderdale"; a confetti canon filled with green and white streamers. Finally, the set would end on the bittersweet notes of "If It Means A Lot To You".
Although everyone knew it wasn't the end! They hadn't played "that one song" yet. After a little bit of cheering for the encore, A Day To Remember returned to the stage with "It's Complicated" and finished on the one song fans knew they couldn't leave without playing, "The Downfall Of Us All". They ended the show like how they began, with smiles, screams and a truckload of confetti. A Day To Remember certainly gave Toronto their own day to remember with their show.
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