With a rich legacy as one of Canada’s premiere Post-Hardcore bands, Silverstein is currently celebrating its silver anniversary on its 25 Years Of Noise Tour. The tour coincides with the release of its new album, Antibloom, which arrived on February 21, 2025. The first leg finds Silverstein traveling across Europe before spending much of the spring and summer months in North America. Also happening with the pending Pink Moon album arriving later this year, on Friday, March 7, 2025, the busy band stopped at Schlachthof in Wiesbaden, Germany, to celebrate with their fans.
Along on this celebratory tour are the Australian Hardcore band Bloom, The Callous Daoboys, and the beloved Thursday. With Bloom opening the night, throughout their brief 20-minute set, they warm up the audience and prepare them for what is yet to come. This was before The Callous Daoboys, a Mathcore band from Atlanta, Georgia, played a 30-minute set. Sounding interesting, they brought along a female violinist and a female bass player, which still is a rare sight in this genre. Their growling and shouting during their harsh songs are interrupted by Pop songs playing from the stereo in between the songs. On top of this, New Jersey’s Thursday were included in the celebration of twenty years of their 2003 War All The Time album... so the night was full of excitement.
With over two decades since Silverstein’s introduction, many of their fans have become parents and want to introduce their kids to their favorite band. Therefore, the age of the audience was a good mix, from younger kids to older adults. Most of them wore band shirts of all kinds of bands coming out of the Rock genre and all its sub-genres.
Gearing up for Silverstein, many seemed to enjoy Bloom and The Callous Daoboys, welcoming them with open arms. Even though only a few were able to sing along to the songs of either band, everyone paid them appreciation and respect and welcomed them to the family.
With that in mind, as Thursday entered the stage, there was a shift in the audience. A lot of the older fans knew Thursday and became more active, pushing toward the front and cheering eagerly as their set began. As fans know, Thursday’s last studio album was 2011’s No Devolución; however, after thirteen years, in 2024, they released two new songs entitled “Application for Release From the Dream” (released in April 2024) and “White Bikes” (released in December 2024). Invigorating to fans, apparently, there is more coming, too.
With many fans feeling inspired to see Thursday (Tom Keeley on lead guitar/backing vocals, Tim Payne on bass, Geoff Rickly on lead vocals, Tucker Rule on drums, and Steve Pedulla on rhythm guitar/backing vocals) fully active again, you could see it shine through during the band’s performance. Thursday also did not disappoint, playing a good mix of their music, which they had released between 1999 Waiting and 2011 No Devolución, alongside their two brand-new songs. Overall, everyone loved each one of the ten songs as they sang along, clapped, and danced.
Making the set even more personal, Vocalist Geoff Rickly interacted with the crowd in between the songs, reminiscing about the past and telling tales. It was a beautiful and intense set, ending with “War All The Time,” for which the entire room was filled with unison singing that proves that Thursday are as significant to their followers as ever before.
With everyone replenishing their energy, before Silverstein began, two screens played a video about their band history—a fun short film that summed up their career. Quickly thereafter, the set began with “Skin & Bones” and “Confessions” off their latest album. Then, moving on to 2022’s “The Altar,” Shane Told asked for a big circle pit, which he got.
Full of energy, song by song Silverstein went backwards through time. Going from the newest songs to the oldest, there was so much love in this venue that you could almost touch it. You could feel the passion of each band member playing, but also the songs with tons of interaction with the crowd. Then, throughout the second half of the set, crowd surfing ensued while a mosh pit formed here and there.
The set then wrapped up with 2005’s “Smile in Your Sleep,” on which Told performed mostly solo. With just Told and an acoustic guitar, minus the chorus when he was joined by Bassist Bill Hamilton and Drummer Paul Koehler, it was a superb way to end the show.
However, it was clearly not the end because everyone wanted an encore, which they received when Told re-entered alone to perform 2005’s “My Heroine.” This time, encouraging more crowd participation, everyone sang along proudly before the entire band emerged for two more songs – 2003’s “Smashed Into Pieces” and “Bleed No More.”
When it was all said and done, it was a wonderful evening. Everyone left satisfied and hoping that Silverstein would return to Europe sooner rather than later. Well, with the album Pink Moon coming in the future, it might be sooner than everyone thinks. For now, we can only hope and – until then – play their music loud and proud, thinking back to the fond memories of the last twenty-five years of Silverstein.
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