The Peace and The Panic Tour Delivers a Patchwork of Punk - i99Radio, Philadelphia's Alternative Rock!

Bayside returned to Philly this past week for a two night stand celebrating their music both old and new. i99Radio was on the scene to capture night one of two. For the first night, Bayside brought songs from their early years, 2004 to 2008. For many of us, it takes us back instantly to the songs of our childhood, middle and high school years, and the audience spanning Gen X to Gen Alpha came ready to rock.

Long Island, NY’s The Sleeping started the night off and brought their unique blend of post-hardcore and raw energy to the stage that really got the audience going. People thrashed around and sang along, and even a toddler hopping up on his dad’s shoulders to get a better view of frontman Doug Robinson, who climbed up to the barrier, putting his microphone up to fans to sing along with them, and eventually even crowdsurfing above their heads at one point. The band has been experiencing a revival since their reunion in 2022 and their fantastic newest album, “I Feel Like I’m Becoming a Ghost”, dropping in 2023.

Bayside then took the stage, kicking off their set with the classic track, “Montauk”, from their second self-titled album. Frontman Anthony Ranieri commented how their idea for the “Errors Tour” came about when they wanted to play 44 songs in each city, instead of just 22. He talked about how the band has so many songs that fans love from all across their career, but not enough time to play them all, so they thought, “why not just play 2 nights in every city?”

The night of classic nostalgia continued on, with the band delivering high-energy versions of much loved tracks from their third album, 2007’s “The Walking Wounded”, like “Duality”, “I and I”, and the ballad “Landing Feet First” (of which started a massive audience singalong). The band also reached far back in their discography, playing tracks from their first years as a band, like “Masterpiece”, “Guardrail” and “Kellum”, off of the first album, 2004’s “Sirens and Condolences.” The audience was audibly excited by this, as these tracks are very rarely played live. The audience cheered loudly and unleashed a constant stream of crowd-surfers to the front of stage as they ripped through these classic tracks. The “newest” songs they played for night 1 were tracks from 2008’s classic album, “Shudder”, like “Boy”, “No One Understands” and “The Ghost of St. Valentine”. Again, many of these tracks haven’t been played since the Shudder Tour in 2008 so hearing these songs was certainly a treat for the audience.

Bayside’s show at Brooklyn Bowl was a testament to how the songs we grew up with are forever engrained in our DNA, the music grows with us and becomes a part of us as we grow older, but we never forget the songs that influenced us almost two decades ago. The 1,000 people in the audience who turned up to sing every word of these songs that are almost 20 years old now proves this to be true and Bayside to be a band close to so many people’s hearts.

Photos by Dave Avidan

On Wednesday, January 31, Neck Deep, with openers Seaway, Creeper, and Speak Low If You Speak Love (Speak Low), played at Rams Head Live in Baltimore, Md., a part of Neck Deep’s The Peace and The Panic U.S. Tour based on Neck Deep’s last-summer release of the titled album.

This line-up is definitely one of the most dynamic, with the four groups coming from three different areas of the world: Creeper and Neck Deep stemming from the U.K., Speak Low from the U.S., and Seaway from Canada.

The show started at 7 p.m. with Speak Low kicking off the night with a 30-minute set. This group started out a bit mellow, as their songs are a lot calmer and not ones typical for a mosh pit. Originating from Michigan, the group made sure to thank the audience for coming out, seeing as their last show in Baltimore only drew in around 50 people (whereas Rams Head Live holds a capacity of 1,500).

Ryan Scott Graham of Speak Low If You Speak Love
Photo by Jenna Kauffman

Around 7:50 p.m., Creeper offered more energy music-wise. From start to finish, the group did not seem to stop moving, which deserves major credit as a second opener, since they had a performance similar to the energy of a headliner. This dynamic group consists of six members, which is a bit uncommon for a lot of recent punk groups. Especially with an interesting ratio of five men to one woman. The face of the group is lead singer, Will Gould, with female keys player Hannah Greenwood offering vocals on some of the songs, but this is not a female-fronted group per say. The group officially describes themselves as “Horror Punk,” a genre different to the other bands performing, and their sound was definitely a bit different. Each song of theirs has an eerie feel, while also keeping a fast rock pace, very reminiscent to My Chemical Romance (MCR). Back in 2016, Creeper actually covered MCR’s “This is How I Disappear” for The Black Parade Anniversary Tribute; listen to their comments on the tribute here. Their set livened things up for the following bands at the show, for sure.

Will Gould of Creeper
Photo by Jenna Kauffman

Hannah Greenwood of Creeper
Photo by Jenna Kauffman

After about a 25-minute set from Creeper comes the group Seaway from Ontario, Canada. The group gave a bit of a longer set, lasting closer to 40 minutes. This is when the crowd especially picked up, with a few crowd surfers starting amidst Seaway’s set. They did well getting the crowd hyped even though they were initially not even considered for the tour, replacing With Confidence due to the band’s controversial hiatus late last year.

Adam Shoji of Seaway
Photo by Jenna Kauffman

Neck Deep started around 9:45 p.m., after a decent intermission. Their set brought the whole night together with not only more active crowd surfers during practically every song, but also, they brought out a few of their touring mates during their set. Seaway Drummer, Ken Taylor, came out to help with heavier vocals on “Don’t Wait,” as well as Creeper’s Hannah Greenwood coming out to join on vocals on “A Part of Me,” which originally featured Laura Whiteside. Uniquely, the group also had saxophone player, Tony, a.k.a. Saxl Rose, come out to help out instrumentally on songs “In Bloom” and one of the two encore songs, “Can’t Kick Up the Roots.”

Matt West of Neck Deep
Photo by Jenna Kauffman

This tour has been filled with interesting moments, such as when during the second tour date featured two fans on stage for a marriage proposal during Neck Deep’s set. At the end of the Rams Head Live show, Lead Singer of Neck Deep, Ben Barlow, got up on the barricade separating him from the crowd, during concluding song “Where Do We Go When We Go,” in order to be closer to the crowd before officially ending the show.

Dani Washington of Neck Deep
Photo by Jenna Kauffman

It was definitely an interesting and eclectic night. Instead of getting full pop punk, there was a mix of punk, indie, rock, and just about all the aspects that make up the alternative genre. Upon leaving, one fan said aloud, “That was the best concert I’ve ever been to.”

The Peace and The Panic Tour continues until February 28, wrapping up in Hollywood, Calif. Following that, Neck Deep continue touring overseas. Tour dates for upcoming shows on this tour and following can be found here. Additionally, Creeper will join All Time Low on a U.K. run in March following this tour. Tickets can be found here, but also check out their music and other news here. Seaway and Speak Low have yet to announce plans after this tour, but keep up with them on their Facebook pages at https://www.facebook.com/seawayband/ and https://www.facebook.com/speaklowmusic/.

Ben Barlow of Neck Deep
Photo by Jenna Kauffman

Neck Deep’s album The Peace and The Panic is available on Apple Music, Spotify, their website, and in stores.

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