Story Of The Year Threw an Album Release Party In Style Saturday at The Pageant

Sean Derrick March 14, 2023March 15, 2023 0 Comments Album release party, alternative rock, Live music, post hardcore, Saint Louis concert review and photos, SOTY, Story of the Year, The Pageant

–by Sean Derrick

Saint Louis favorite sons Story of the Year celebrated the release of their latest album, Tear Me To Pieces, with a sold-out high-energy performance in front of a raucous crowd at The Pageant Saturday night.

Tear Me To Pieces dropped the day before and marks the post-hardcore/emo/pop-punk/alternative rock (did I cover it all?) band’s 6th full-length album. And, from what I have heard, dare I say their strongest and most complete album, yet. (Yes, even better than 2003’s Platinum Page Ave. that launched them into stardom.)

SOTY charged out with the title track and the crowd went nuts and didn’t stop for the next 90 minutes of the band tearing through SOTY classics like “Anthem of Our Dying Day”, “Sidewalks”, and “Until the Day I Die”.

They also hit deeper cuts like “Tell Me (P.A.C.)” and “We’re Not Gonna Make It” from the 2008 album The Black Swan.

But some of the best moments for me were the new songs, especially “War”. I absolutely love that track and the guys absolutely did the song justice in their first live performance of it. The hook, melody, chorus, and of course the energy all came together to really rock the house.

A very poignant time came during the first ever performance of another new song, “2005”. Vocalist Dan Marsala, dedicated the song to former Story of the Year guitarist Greg Haupt, who passed away last April after a long bout with cancer. During the performance it was evident that the song weighed heavy on Marsala and he commented afterwards that he got chocked up during the performance of the song, “That’s rare for me.”

Marsala, acknowledging the fact that the band has been around for over 20 years stated “We keep getting older and you guys still rock.” And rock they did, singing along with every song new and old. Which brings us to the “fate” portion of the show- the two heaviest songs of the show: “Choose Your Fate” and “”Is This My Fate?” He Asked Them”, complete with guttural growls and screamo lyrics from Marsala. “See? We can still play heavy songs, too!” joked Marsala as he instructed the crowd to mosh around a fan who he picked out from the crowd with instructions to remain still, and further directions to the crowd not to knock him over.

In between most of the songs Marsala would tell stories or just joke with the rest of the band (guitarist Ryan Phillips, drummer Josh Wills, and bassist Adam Russell-who were tight as nails), even telling the audience that they should tell him to “shut the fuck up” when he talks too much, then they would continue to rock. And for the rest of the night it was much of the same formula: Rock your face off, talk/joke around, rock your face off. With their sound and energy, both on and off the stage, it was a winning formula that should not be tampered with.

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and Fight Back Mountain opened the show. Unfortunately, due to the less than stellar parking situation there I didn’t get there in time to photograph Fight Back Mountain, but what I saw was a solid performance from the local quartet.

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus performing at The Pageant in Saint Louis Saturday. Photo by Sean Derrick/ Thyrd Eye Photography.

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus filled in the support role nicely bathed in for the most part, what else, red light that is cool for the audience but which most concert photographers loathe.