A Day to Remember and More @ Gallagher Square in San Diego
Featuring: A Day To Remember, The Used, Movements and Magnolia Park
Photos by: Samantha Madnick
Words by: Rudy Flores
It's Friday night at Gallagher Square in Petco Park and it is one of the nicest nights we've had in weeks, so it is definitely the perfect time for a kick ass show with Magnolia Park, Movements, The Used and A Day To Remember!!
First up was MAGNOLIA PARK (who performed at SOMA back in the beginning of August during the sweltering heat) with a short but sweet 7 song set with hits like "Sick of it All" and "Back on my Bullshit" from the 2021 release "Halloween Mixtape" and the Fall Out Boy classic "Sugar, We're Going Down" came out first to already packed crowd, and let me tell you...THEY CAME TO SHOW OUT!! Pumping up the crowd and some of the security guards too from start to finish, the boys from Orlando, Florida were so much fun and definitely a crowd pleaser for sure!! Be on the lookout for these guys cause judging by their performance, they're going to be headliners very VERY soon!!
Magnolia Park is set to drop a new album due out November 4th entitled "Baku's Revenge" from Epitaph Records, which I'm sure will be an instant hit!
Next up is a band from Orange County, MOVEMENTS, who truth be told did very little of that on stage...physically...but musically the were all over the place (in the best way possible) with enough highs and lows to keep the crowd on their feet and cheering along. They also had a short 7 song set but size doesn't matter (or so I'd like to believe...shut up...NOTHING!!) because every single song was better than the next but all amazing as a whole. They played us all a new track called "Cherry Thrill" (cool name btw) off their new album of the same name that was released earlier this year and everyone to positive reviews. It's safe to say as their set ended they gained a few new fans...that is if the crowd was any indication!!
The Used came out killing the opening riff to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" which quickly transitioned to "A Box Full of Sharp Objects" from their 2001 release "USED". Lead singer Robert "Bert" McCracken had a special request for the crowd and that was for everyone to "BOO" them instead of cheering. I gotta say that was new to me but definitely something to remember. A little more than halfway through the set Bert called for a "circle pit" and as it got started he spouted out one of Shakespeare's soliloquies just before the chaos ensued to the sound of "Blood On My Hands" from 2009's "Artwork". They ended the 11 song set with "Pretty Handsome Awkward" off 2007's "Lies for the Liars" which ended just like the show started, reprising Nirvana's classic track.
Next up...A DAY TO REMEMBER!!
As the roadies started setting up for ADTR there was a familiar tune playing over the speakers, Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way" which to some might seem odd, but to anyone who's attended these types of shows before this is not new. Usually it's Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" but this'll do. The crowd sang every word of the 1999 boy band hit with vigor as they waited for the Ocala, Florida band to hit the stage.
When the lights went out everyone lost their minds as Jeremy McKinnon, Neil Westfall, Alex Shelnutt, and Kevin Skaff walked on the stage. Their first song of the evening "The Downfall of Us All" from the 2009 album "Homesick" got the ball rolling hard as fans (almost in perfect unison) screamed every word back to them verbatim. It has definitely got to be something wild for ADTR to walk out to that. How crazy it must be to know hundreds if not thousands of people know your music that well and to know that it resonated with each of them in their own special way.
A mixture of classics (like the one mentioned above) and new offerings like 2022's "Miracle" the title track from the album bearing the same name gave everyone a little something from their vast catalog spanning over their 20 years of making music. They were absolutely electrifying and a site to be seen. Their cover of "Rescue Me" by Marshmello was definitely a fan favorite as was "Mr. Highway's Thinking About the End", again from 2009's "Homesick" which had the lyric everyone had been waiting for "DISRESPECT YOUR SURROUNDINGS!!" Now famous again from numerous TikToks. They ended the evening with "Resentment" from their "Live at the Audio Compound" released in 2021 to ear shattering cheers that could be heard through the cool October evening for blocks. Everyone got what they came for while leaving still wanting more, which is the sign of an amazing show if you ask me!
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