A STRONG SHOWING: FOUR YEAR STRONG IMPRESS IN MANCHESTER

LIVE REVIEW | FOUR YEAR STRONG | MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2 19th February 2025 by Craig Harston

Following an inexplicable change in venue, with the majority of gig -goers only finding out the show had moved down the road from the O2 Ritz to Manchester Academy 2 when they arrived at the door, Massachusetts Four Year Strong showcased their latest album, ‘analysis paralysis’, on the opening night of their UK tour.

First up, melodic punks Shoreline got the early crowd warmed up nicely, with plenty of clapping throughout their set, quite a bit of banter and a plea to the crowd to pick up some merch following an expensive repair to their van in Germany! Long Island hardcore band Koyo followed and kept the party going, getting the room bouncing along with the first mosh pit of the night.

When Four Year Strong hit the stage, there was so much smoke on there it could have been anyone but then the unmistakeable opening notes of ‘aftermath/afterthought’ rang out and there was no doubt the easy-core band had arrived! Touring to promote their latest album, they quickly followed up with ‘bad habit’ before diving headfirst into the classic ‘Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die’, prompting the whole room to sing along while a HUGE mosh pit erupted in the middle of the crowd. ‘Get Out Of My Head’ followed and then the room went absolutely wild for anthem ‘It Must Really Suck To Be Four Year Strong Right Now’ with plenty of crowd surfing followed by the four piece keeping the momentum going into ‘Find My Way Back’.

Returning to the new album with a brace of songs, ‘uncooked’ featured plenty of clapping over the bridge and ‘daddy of mine’ got the first circle pit of the night going. Slowing things down a little (or as slow as Four Year Strong get) with the melodic ‘maybe it’s me’, deep cut ‘Seventeen’ and ‘dead end friends’, things soon ramped up again with the excellent ‘Go Down In History’. ‘It’s Cool’ followed before Four Year Strong became yet another band to eschew leaving the stage before an encore, launching into a blistering performance of ‘We All Float Down Here’ and finishing strong with ‘Wasting Time (Eternal Summer)’.

It was an absolutely relentless show and although their wasn’t much in the way of stage banter, Four Year Strong kept the momentum up by encouraging the crowd to open up circle pits and participate in a bit of crowd surfing. The new songs sat well alongside the older ones, with previous album ‘Brain Pain’ getting a lot of love.

Analysis? A fun time was had by all!

The ‘analysis paralysis’ continues across the UK with tickets available HERE!

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Craig Harston

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