Live Wired [Review]: Yellowcard 10/30

posted in: Reviews & Playlists • Rock

When a band takes a break from their musical career for a number of years, it’s often hard to gain back momentum and success should they decide to come back. But, there are some artists who never really go away; we’re always waiting for them to stage a comeback. This year we’ve seen the return of huge acts like Blink-182 and New Kids On The Block, but this concept doesn’t always have to apply to mainstream artists. Here at Live Wired, we caught Yellowcard on their first US headlining tour in three years as they played to a sold out crowd at Paradise Rock Club on the night before Halloween.

Yellowcard broke out with the release of their 2003 single (and album), “Ocean Avenue”, and released two more albums before announcing that they were going on a hiatus in 2008. Earlier this year, they released When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes, started playing shows again, and embarked on their first headlining tour after regrouping. Not only was it amazing to see the crowd’s excitement and explosive roar as the band took the stage, but it was both heart-warming and refreshing to see how humbled and taken aback the band was by this reaction. Frontman Ryan Key started off by telling the audience that the main goal for the night was for us to lose our voices from singing so loud; he definitely succeeded. While their music has grown from the sometimes angst-filled pop-punk to more of a straight rock sound, all of their songs are perfect when it comes to crowd participation. “Way Away” was the perfect example of this, as fans rocked out to the fast-paced guitar and violin sounds but had the opportunity to sing their hearts out during the bridge of the song.

Ending the main part of their set, the band played their heartfelt song “Only One”,  a perfect emotion-packed ending that left the crowd wanting more. What they got was an incredible four-song encore. After a minute or so of applause and chanting, Ryan came back out with just his acoustic guitar. Before launching into “Sing For Me”, he took some time to explain that he wrote the song when his aunt, who was the band’s biggest supporter and fan, was diagnosed with cancer. She passed away less than a week ago and he asked us to sing as loud as we could so that she could hear us. It was touching and beautiful. He continued by playing “Empty Apartment”, and the rest of the band joined in partway through. The final song of the night was, of course, “Ocean Avenue”. It was impossible not to catch on to all of the energy in the room as everyone exploded one last time with so much love and passion for Yellowcard. Luckily, the band announced that they’d be recording a new album soon, and would be back touring next year, much to the crowd’s delight.

Check out the rest of the dates on Yellowcard’s full US tour!