Story of the Year Sent a Love Letter to Fans at The Pageant on Valentine’s Day

February 15, 2026 Carrie Zukoski

— by Carrie Zukoski

It wasn’t just a reunion for the fans; it was a reunion for the three bands as well. Story of the Year brought Letter Kills and Rushmore Academy together to perform 2.5 hours of emo pop punk rock on the night of Valentine’s Day at the sold-out concert in St. Louis at The Pageant.

Celebrating the release on February 13 of their much-anticipated album, A.R.S.O.N. (All Rage, Still Only Numb), the St. Louis-based SOTY put on one doozy of a concert this Saturday night. The lads glided onto the stage just after 10 p.m. on scooters, perhaps to symbolize that even in adulthood, their youthful joie de vivre is still intact. The next 75 minutes proved that Dan Marsala, Ryan Phillips, Josh Wills, and Adam Russell haven’t slowed down.

The emo, pop-punk band kicked the night off with the first single from A.R.S.O.N., the heavier, post-hardcore “Gasoline (All Rage Still Only Numb).” They sprinkled in fan-favorites throughout the night, to the delight of the crowd, such as “And the Hero Will Drown,” “We’re Not Gonna Make It,” and “Our Time is Now,” which Dan Marsala descended into the crowd to sing. They performed the ferocious “Into the Dark” and the more power-punk-pop “3 am” from A.R.S.O.N. for the first time live.

Marsala took time to share a few stories and praise The Pageant, saying it’s their favorite place to perform, and the first time they did was in 2002 with Goldfinger. Each of the members seemed perfectly at ease on stage, having a blast running around, hitting the chords and skins in fine fashion. The quintet ended the night with the live debut of the anthemic “I Don’t Wanna Feel Like This Anymore” and the intense, pop-punk “Until the Day I Die,” which had the crowd surging.

California-based Letter Kills, who have a long history with SOTY, filled the second slot of the night with 50 minutes of their riff-heavy, hard-charged alt/punk rock. The band brought their all, which led lead vocalist Matt Shelton to joke mid-way through the set that he needed more cardio training. During “Brand New Man,” Shelton waded through the crowd on the floor and in the first tier bringing the crowd to a frenzy.

St. Louis’ Rushmore Academy, who were active through much of the ’00s, have once again been making music and opened the night with an energetic, emo-power-rock 30-minute set that, we’re sure included some of that new material as well as older favorites but honestly, this concert photographer could not find much online about them. This, however, appears to be the band members: Steve Neske (vocals, guitar), Stephen Fee (guitar), Craig Jenkins (keyboards), Jason Kramer (bass), and Matt Effinger (drums, vocals) (don’t hold us to that).