The Story So Far’s U.S. Fall Tour – REVIEW

We recently had the grand pleasure of attending The Story So Far’s sold out show in Chicago. You can check out our review of the tour, after the break.

The Bottom Lounge played host to the sold out show for The Story So Far and their friends in Stick to Your Guns, Such Gold, Rotting Out, Heart to Heart, and Souvenirs.

First on the stage was Californian band, Souvenirs. If you have not yet, heard of them, I wouldn’t delay your ears any longer. You can check out both their albums, Sadder Days and Tired of Defending You for free on their bandcamp. I personally enjoyed hearing “Deep 6”, “Squeeze”, and “How to Sleep” live. Even though their set time was pretty early, they still had a pretty decent amount of people there who seemed to be into their music. One person even yelled out “I love you” and the lead singer seemed so humbled by it. Next time they are here, I will be sure to be there watching.

Next up were more California natives, Heart to Heart. With their EP, View Impressions, and full length, self-titled album, make some room for them on your Ipod. Making an unforgettable entrance, the lead singer was in the crowd when the set started and made his way to the front while starting a mosh pit. One thing I loved about their set was the lead singer explaining to the crowd, the meaning behind their song “Forty Forty Twenty”, which was a heartwarming tale about a woman he met whose chances of surviving cancer was just those odds and making sure to not leave us in suspense, he ended with stating how she is now cancer free, which the crowd met with tremendous applause. He also dedicated a song to the LGBT community and said “No matter what the fucking idiots say, there is absolutely nothing wrong with you.” What I really admired about their set was watching them all play; it seemed as if they gave it their all. They played as if it was the last show they would ever play and made it count. I would make sure to not miss out on seeing the energy this band gives.

Rotting Out was next to amp up the crowd. From the moment they started, fans were nonstop making their way to the stage to stage dive and there were crowd surfers everywhere. I think their amount of crowd surfers rivaled that of All Time Low’s crowd surfers. Fans were even cart wheeling off the stage and literally still going even if the next song wasn’t playing yet. With an album, The Wrong Way, just re-released a few days ago, they also played new material such as “The Shootout” as well as songs from their album, Street Prowl. The lead singer, Carlos, was everywhere on the stage. I loved his stances he made on stage and the passion he brought to the songs when he performed.

Soon after Such Gold, took the stage. With the people who were crowd surfing during Rotting Out, fans continued doing it during the beginning of Such Gold’s set. This prompted two people to enter the crowd in the front and face the crowd. When someone would then crowd surf, they would pull them down before they reached the stage and yelled at them to not do it again. Yanking fans down left and right, soon no one was crowd surfing and the energy level seemed to go down. Such Gold noticed this happening and their tour manager then jumped into the crowd and yelled at the two guys to stop and get out. The crowd cheered and once the band started playing again, the stage diving resumed. Unfortunately their drummer was not able to be there and filling in for him was George from Stick to Your Guns, who did a great job, by the way. Although the band had a few technical difficulties that didn’t stop them from making sure the crowd enjoyed the songs they were able to perform. Some of them included “Sycamore”, “Locked Out of the Magic Theatre”, and others. They have a new album out now; titled Misadventures that I would definitely go give a listen to.

After them was Stick to Your Guns. “Tonight your voices belong to me,” is what Jesse said to the crowd before jumping into the set. I seriously feel that I could go to a show of theirs just to hear Jesse speak. He gave a speech about “knowing what you want and do it. Fuck plan B. Plan A or die.” His mini speeches during the set reminded me of other artists such as Jason Butler from Letlive or Matty Mullens from Memphis May Fire. The band made sure to call for circle pits multiple times which the crowd did willingly. In addition to stage diving people crowd surfed to the front and took selfies on stage with the members of the band. It was pretty funny to see that happen. Playing old and new songs from their different albums that they have released such as “The Bond”, which they dedicated to Terror, “Such Pain”, “What Goes Around”, “Empty Heads”, and during their last song, people were onstage singing into the mics with them.

After a full night of energetic bands who took the stage beforehand, The Story So Far came out. If you’ve never seen them live then make sure to change that, if not with this tour, then with the next time they are at a venue near you. They are seriously worth seeing. People continued the stage diving and crowd surfing for the rest of the night, having just the one more chance to leave it all there with TSSF. Playing songs such as “Roam”, “Mt. Diablo”, “Daughters”, “Quicksand”, “Right Here”, “The Glass”, “Four Years”, and many others, they gave the crowd a fun time. Make sure to give a listen to their album, Under Soil and Dirt, and their latest one, What You Don’t See, it won’t be regretted.

Information about the review…
Tour: The Story So Far’s U.S. Fall Tour
Bands: The Story So Far, Stick To Your Guns, Such Gold, Rotting Out, Souvenirs
Reviewer: Ali Jimenez
Date: December 1, 2013
Venue: Bottom Lounge in Chicago, IL