Four Year Strong @ o2 Academy 16th February 2017
New England punk band Four Year Strong played the o2 Academy recently, supported by Chunk!No, Captain, Chunk!, Boston Manor and Homebound. Hannah Sebestjanowicz picks up from the appearance of the French Goonies fans.
Rise or Die Trying came out 10 years ago!? Man I feel old, I still remember that record getting some serious plays back when I was a sprightly 19 year old. Fast forward and I’m much closer to 30 then I would sometimes like to admit but there’s still a part of me that has a soft spot for Four Year Strong and its always a pleasure to see the bearded gents live. Its an special night because their playing Rise or Die Trying front to back so I’m a tad excited.
Now its been a good few years since I was last at the Academy and I swear the second room has definitely got bigger! I snaked my way in to find a spot for Parisian pop-punkers Chunk!No, Captain, Chunk! (award for most ridiculous band name ever goes to…) and I’ll be honest right away, I’m not feeling too good and almost didn’t make it tonight and it was going to take a lot for these guys to win me over. The house lights went down and they bounded on stage, I can’t fault them for energy but I’m far too old and female for this kind of music now! It doesn’t help their cause the fact that all I can hear is the drums and bass because the sound is terrible. If you like your pop-punk with breakdowns and screamed vocals then these guys are right up your street but its just not for me. The fact that they bigged up Birmingham only to confuse it with Manchester further into the set was a bit of a faux pas and got a very cold reaction from the crowd. They do make it up slightly with a cover of Smash Mouth’s ‘All Star’ which gets people back on their side. Overall the crowd seemed to enjoy it though.
Its nice to see a mix of ages in the room tonight, the older guys who will remember the record coming out and the ones that would have still been in primary school! The room is pretty packed out and everyone seems pretty stoked, there’s even a guy dressed as wizard in ode to the album art! Now every time I’ve seen these guys play they’ve never failed to put a smile on my face and I think a lot of tonight was quite nostalgic for me. They weren’t exactly huge on interacting with the crowd but the songs from Rise or Die Trying still haven’t lost their edge and as it turns out I still know all the words. ‘Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die’ has always been an absolute banger and its no different tonight, its a sure-fire crowd pleaser! Scanning the room it would appear that everyone is singing along and its just hit after hit as Alan and Dan share the vocal duties each having their own distinctive edge. The breakdowns are a bit of a guilty pleasure and are super fun too.
My favourite ‘Maniac ROD’ is hard and fast and wraps up the first portion of the set. Its been fun hearing the whole album in fun and even with me feeling terrible I’ve still had a great time. I don’t stick around much longer but I do catch a few more songs before escaping to my bed! This evening has well and truly been a celebration and a nostalgia trip as Four Year Strong took over Birmingham and proved that they still are a force to be reckoned with.
Review: Hannah Sebestjanowicz
Photographs: Chris Bowley