Yellowcard, This Wild Life, Anberlin, Mayday Parade

Arizona Financial Theatre

July 29, 2023

Review and Gallery By: Hannah Kelly

The night started out with This Wild Life, a band I’ve seen quite a few times before. This Wild Life is an acoustic rock duo from Long Beach, CA. They have a long standing joke of of calling themselves anything besides their actual band name. Throughout their set, a few names they referred to themselves as included “Hot Topic Mumford and Sons,” “Discount Dashboard Confessional,” and “Kirkland City in Color.” They played a pretty quick five song set, one of which was a cover of Blink-182’s “I Miss You,” and another that was a mashup of their original song “Catie Rae” and John Denver’s “Country Roads, Take Me Home.” As always, their set was fun and I always look forward to seeing This Wild Life play.

Next up was Anberlin, a rock band from Florida. Much like This Wild Life, they played a pretty short and sweet set. Their set was only seven songs long. They played the entire set drenched in red lighting that was a bit hard to see with. I was unfamiliar with Anberlin before tonight. Besides the harsh lighting, I did really enjoy their set. Stand out songs from their time on stage were “Feel Good Drag” and “Two Graves.” They were a nice surprise for me and I will definitely be checking out their music.

Next to take the stage is one of my favorite bands, Mayday Parade. I never miss an opportunity to see them when they come to town. Because of the length of Yellowcard’s set tonight, Mayday also played a fairly short set. They began the set with “Oh Well, Oh Well” which is one of my favorite songs by them and it’s always fun to see them open with it. They seamlessly transitioned into a newly released song “More Like Crash.” They then finished their first three songs with an older tune, “Anywhere but here.” Before staring emo anthem, “Miserable at Best,” lead singer Derek yelled out “emo music is alive and well in the year 2023.” They finished up their set with two newer songs, “Piece of My Heart” and “Got Me All Wrong” and two older songs, “Jersey” and “Jaime All Over.”

It was finally time for Yellowcard to take the stage and celebrate 20 years of their album Ocean Avenue. They started their set by playing “Way Away” “Breathing,” both songs from the album being celebrated. The crowd was going wild, they were eating the nostalgia up. They kept the energy up for the next few songs of the set, only slowing down when they got to “One Year, Six Months.” Before slowing it down, Yellowcard’s lead singer, Ryan Key, made sure to thank all of the bands on the tour. He started by thanking This Wild Life and noting that he sang vocals for their newest album. He then moved on to thanking Story of the Year for playing the firs portion of the tour, even though they weren’t on the stop in Phoenix. Next he thanked Anberlin, their fellow Floridians, and specifically thanked their drummer for playing on Yellowcard’s last two albums. He then thanked Mayday Parade for supporting him when Yellowcard broke up and for taking him on tour as a solo act. He ended the thank yous with thanking Emo Nite Brooklyn, who was performing DJ sets in-between acts, for keeping him employed for the past seven years.

As they played “One Year, Six Months” Ryan told the crowd to keep an eye out for an absolute legend who may or may not join them on stage. Then, about halfway through the tune, Derek from Mayday Parade took the stage to sing with the band. Yellowcard continued on with two more slower songs, “Hang You Up” and “Empty Apartment.” They then picked it up and rocked through the “end” of their set. After finishing with “Back Home,” the band left the stage. After a few minutes of the crowd screaming for them to come back, they retook the stage for their encore.

The encore consisted of their top hits “With You Around,” “Only One,” and of course “Ocean Avenue.” The crowd ate it up, screaming every word to the encore. I really enjoyed seeing Yellowcard, as I always do. I’m so glad the band is back together for what seems like the foreseeable future and can’t wait to see them again soon.