With 2013 coming to a close, Bayside’s holiday tour made it’s first stop at The Paramount in Huntington, NY on Friday December 27th. Along for the sleigh ride were Modern Baseball, NK, and Man Overboard. Still in high spirits 2 days after Christmas, this show was on many fans wish list since the tour was announced back in September. Now the time had come and a packed floor was ready to open their final present.
Gracing the stage was the first band pop punkers Modern Baseball. Having formed in 2011 the band has built a loyal fan base here on the east coast. Their full length debut album, the acclaimed Sports (2012) received high praise from fans and critics and warranted a second pressing in March 2013. They started off with “Tears Over Beers” which immediately got the crowd moving. With a large group of fans very familiar with their material there was plenty of singing along and crowd surfing to go around early in the evening. With clever lyrics, their tongue and cheek approach is fun and relatable making for an excellent live show.
Next up were NK consisting of seasoned musicians, vocalist Ryan Hunter (Ex- Envy On the Coast), guitar Brian Bryne (Ex-Envy On The Coast), Michael Sadis (Ex- The Rivalry), and drummer Billy Rymer (Dillinger Escape Plan). Based on Long Island this was their first time playing The Paramount. NK brought a different sound and style than other bands on the bill. With a more aggressive heavy approach NK provided a fusion of industrial sounds with fuzzy heavy bass lines. Hunter’s voice displayed aggression with melody throughout each song played. At some points one would even argue a strong influence of Rage Against the Machine in their sound. With a cartoon show playing behind the band an atmosphere was set with only the projection illuminating the band. NK are a unique group adding spice to the Long Island music scene.
Our next act was Southern New Jersey band Man Overboard. Together now since 2008 the 5-piece pop punk band came off a success 2013 on the Warped Tour all summer long and also touring with the likes of Mayday Parade. Their 13 song set included fan favorites such as “Secret Pain”, “Boy Without Batteries”, and “Montrose”. Zac Eisenstein and Nik Bruzzese vocal performance performance was harmonic and full of emotion as the two fed off one another. With plenty of great guitar melodies to go around provided by Justin Collier and Wayne Wildrick the crowd was in a frenzy from start to finish. Fans in the crowd surfed and sang along which each track enjoying every minute. The set closed out with the beautiful acoustic song “Love Your Friends, Die Laughing” and the powerful anthem “Where I Left You”. With rising popularity, 2014 is promising to be an even better year for Man Overboard.
By the time Bayside came on to the stage it was evident The Paramount was at capacity. Named after their home town in Queens, NY, band leader Anthony Raneri along with Jack O’Shea (lead guitars/back-up vocals), Nick Ghanbarian (bass/back-up vocals), and Chris Guglielmo (drums) have released 5 full length albums over the past decade while partaking in tireless touring. It seemed almost fitting for this 3 date holiday tour to open on the island where Bayside began 13 years ago.
The set opened up with “Already Gone” to a roaring response. O’Shea’s lead guitar work set the stage on fire as Raneri voice shined through an excellently woven together string of tunes. Breaking out fan favorite “Devotion and Desire” early in the evening ignited non-stop energy from the front to the back with a crowd surfer approaching the stage throughout the performance reaching out to slap Raneri’s hand. Songs ranging from Sirens and Condolences (2004) to Killing Time (2011), Bayside covered a great deal of their music which is surely the soundtrack to many fans lives. In fact a very special moment happened when the band invited a fan onto the stage to speak. Surprising to the audience the fan proposed to his girlfriend on stage. She happily accepted marking the very marriage first proposal at The Paramount.
The show marched on with each song conveying the same emotional force as the song before. The adrenaline rush was fast, like a shot to the arm, through songs like “Kellum” and “Poison in My Veins”. That same energy Raneri and company put out they demanded back from the audience stimulating circle pits, and even more crowd surfing. Things mellowed out for a brief moment during the acoustic performance of “Don’t Call Me Peanut” only to be lifted right back up with first ever live performance of new track “Pigsty”. The song resonated powerfully during it’s’ live performance and O’Shea’s guitar solo was well placed while simply beautiful.
The 17 song set closed out with “Montauk” and “Sick, Sick, Sick” in exciting fashion only to see the guys come back out for a 3 song encore including “Duality”, “Dear Tragedy”, and a rendition of “O Holy Night”. The crowd stood frozen as you could hear a pin drop while Raneri strummed his acoustic guitar and sang this classic Christmas with all his heart and soul. Santa Claus saved the best gift for after Christmas in the hearts of Bayside fans and this performance was proof of such.
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