20 years ago, Yellowcard released Ocean Avenue and things were never the same. The record catapulted the band to the top of every tour and numerous Warped Tours. They split up in 2017 but reformed in 2022 to play some festivals and they’ve been reunited ever since and when they announced a Summer tour with Story of the Year, Mayday Parade and This Wild Life hitting Indianapolis, it almost sold out immediately.
This Wild Life kicked off the show, referring to themselves as the Hot Topic Mumford & Sons and playing an acoustic set that had everyone in the crowd smiling and singing along to every song. They even threw in a cover of “Country Roads, Take Me Home” and Blink 182’s “I Miss You.’
In between every set, Emo Night Brooklyn treated the crowd to a DJ set that featured some of the greatest pop punk and emo classics of all time.
Story of the Year was up next and, with a record (Tear Me to Pieces) having just released a few months ago, they had a lot of momentum and they delivered.
Their set was short but sweet and included all the hits fans wanted to hear as well as a few new ones from the new record and the crowd was deafening at times.
After Mayday Parade finished up a similar set, Yellowcard finished things up with a performance that lived up to every expectation and hope the fans could have wanted.
Their production was outstanding and they sounded great and loaded the set with 19 songs, all of which had an ocean of energy coming from the fans.
At one point, singer Ryan Key stopped to tell the fans it was one of the biggest headline shows the band has done. The band hadn’t forgotten Indy and Indy hadn’t forgotten Yellowcard. It was 20 years of Ocean Avenue and the Yellowcard faithful were ready to go back in time and relive 2003 again.
In the end, this show was every emo kid’s dream. For the emo kids that have grown up into emo adults, it was a step back to a simpler time and a happier one and it was the closest we’ll get to having Warped Tour back again. There needs to be a tour like this every summer.
-Reggie Edwards