A Day To Remember @ The Troc.

Text and images by Gabi Chepurny.

The Trocadero literally shook under the weight of the intensity that Florida native, A Day To Remember, brought with them Monday night.

New Jersey’s Chasing Safety opened the night with it’s own brand of hardcore, complete with ripped jeans and stage antics there we were sure would cause injury to one of the band’s members. Between on-stage gymnastics and the overkill on mic throwing, we were surprised to see the band survive and while lead singer, Johnny Galivan’s on-stage presence was erratic, the music brought us back to the hardcore days of 2007, and that was a good thing.

The nights bill was heavy on local bands, as Major League, also from the Garden State, gave the crowd some much appreciated pop punk. It’s worth noting that lead singer Brian Joyce rocked a Brand New t-shirt in a not toward the hardcore scene’s roots. With catchy hooks and lyrics that the adolescent crowd was totally into, Major League sounded to us like that punk band from high school that you always hoped would actually go somewhere.

As the room filled to sold-out capacity, the sound guy made sure to keep the music playing as ADTR took 25 minutes to set up. Among the songs played were System Of A Down’s Chop Suey, to which everyone moshed and knew all the words. The same can be said for when Lil Jon’s “Turn Down For What?” and Limp Bizkit’s “Break Stuff” came on. The most pits between sets were only a taste of what was to come.

Headliners A Day To Remember took the stage in a flurry of confetti and flailing limbs as the entire venue turned into a swirling mosh pit. While we’re not sure about the balcony, from front to back, the downstairs was filled with every 16-year-old and their best friend fighting their way through the pit during a set that included mostly older tracks, with a few off their most recent effort, Common Courtesy, thrown in.

Frontman Jeremy McKinnon put security to work when he said, “Philly I wanna see the biggest fucking circle pit The Troc has ever seen. You don’t have to participate; just get the fuck out of the way,” before launching into “Why Walk On Water When We’ve Got Boats?”

Confetti and a full venue mosh pit were just the beginning to a stellar performance from the hardcore heroes. The five-piece brought out beach balls and rolls of toilet paper to be tossed across the crowd before McKinnon came out in an inflatable hamster ball that he used to run across the crowd and back onto the stage. Between hitting every note and endless stage antics, A Day To Remember delivered a truly impressive show.