A Day To Remember & Wage War – The Chicago Theater – Chicago (A PopEntertainment.com Concert Review)

A Day To Remember & Wage War – The Chicago Theater – Chicago, IL – December 12, 2022

When country and metalcore make a baby… this is the best way to describe The Reassembled Tour. With hints of heavy bass from classic metalcore music, combined with highlights of acoustic guitar and piano, this tour was very much uncharted territory for both bands and their fans.

To the delight of Midwest fans, the beautiful, iconic and famous Chicago Theater hosted alternative music fan favorite A Day To Remember. A typical ADTR show consists of heavy music, crowd surfers, fire, and t-shirt canons. The show was a much more slowed-down version of their normal show and seemed more reminiscent of a country concert such as Zac Brown Band or Kenny Chesney.

The last few years have seen a renaissance of early 2000’s pop punk bands making a comeback to find an adoring audience waiting to hear and see where the bands have been. Among this group is A Day To Remember, who broke onto the music scene in 2003 with their angsty mixture of pop-punk, and metal. Running shotgun to ADTR is their opening act Wage War, which formed in 2010 in Ocala Florida, which coincidentally is the same city A Day to Remember was created.

Wage War entered the stage one by one as the crowd cheered patiently waiting for the music to begin. They opened with “Godspeed” off of their most recent album Manic released just last year in the early fall of 2021.

Following this amazing set, A Day To Remember opened with a new fan favorite “Mindreader” off their most recent album You’re Welcome. The band then followed up with a classic “City of Ocala” off of the 2013 album Common Courtesy.

A Day To Remember is one of the most influential emo bands of the late 2000’s into the early 2010’s. They helped shape and mold today's modern pop-punk and metal scenes. The entire crowd stood up and cheered when ADTR started playing their hit classic “All I Want” from their 2010 album What Separates Me From You. Even at an old-school theater with its traditional seating, the fans couldn’t help but stand up and dance their hearts out. It was like a scene straight out of a movie. It was never a phase, it’s a lifestyle.

Ryan Heller