REVIEW: Hawthorne Heights, Anberlin, Cartel at Palladium Times Square | 09.12.2024
Somehow, because time is cruel and way too fast, it has been twenty years since the release of Hawthorne Heights’ The Silence in Black and White. In perhaps the best way possible to recognize that fact, the band put together the 20 Years of Tears tour, a celebration of emo with a deep roster of supporting artists rotating throughout. The tour’s stop last week at the Palldium Times Square in the heart of Manhattan featured support from Anberlin, Cartel, Stick To Your Guns, Emery, and This Wild Life.
A marathon of a day mixed with rush hour traffic in NYC so bad that Apple Maps suggested I abandon my car and just walk instead brought me to the venue in time to catch Stick To Your Guns. I was too late to hit the photo pit but just early enough to enjoy watching the tail end of their set, which proved to be the most metal of the evening.
CARTEL
Cartel was pop punk at its finest and most nostalgic as they delivered a set that had fans singing along in sweet catharsis.
I had just finished my 38th trip around the sun four days earlier and being on the older side of young I was feeling much more like the former prior to the show. Cartel's performance set in motion a return to the fountain of youth, if only for the next few hours.
ANBERLIN
Despite the release of a new album, Vega, last month featuring original vocalist Stephen Christian, Christian has taken a hiatus from touring. Standing in the center stage spotlight in his place was Memphis May Fire’s Matty Mullins, who is featured on two of the new album’s tracks alongside Christian.
Anberlin’s set showcased the band’s new material while leaving plenty of room on the setlist for early fan favorites. Mullins grew up listening to Anberlin and admitted during the set how surreal it was to now be fronting them in a live capacity. His heartfelt vocal delivery made it clear that he was living a dream come true, and the band’s performance proved him more than a great fit.
HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS
Hearing the first notes of “Life on Standby” to kick off The Silence in Black and White album play-through was like being teleported back to a specific time in my life. I could feel the memories instantly and with so much intensity. One look in the eyes of the fans in the front row and beyond told me that I certainly wasn’t the only one.
Vocalist JT Woodruff understands the impact that the band has had on a generation that was at the forefront of emo: a term Woodruff noted once wasn’t celebrated in the same way it is today. Chances are if someone were listening to Hawthorne Heights at the time The Silence in Black and White was released, before emo had a more widespread acceptance, it was because they sought it out. Emo helped them find a voice for their feelings.
That was twenty years ago, and twenty years is a lot of time for growth and reflection on whatever it was or may still be that inspired these fans to find their voices through the band's music. Woodruff shared his own stories, all of which were overflowing with gratitude to the fans for sharing his life's journey with him.
In a way to simultaneously reflect on the past and chart a path forward, Hawthorne Heights also showcased their newest single, "Gold Econoline": a song of bittersweet nostalgia incredibly personal to the band and universal in the recognition of fleeting youth.
The show was a celebration not just of an album, but of what that album did for Hawthorne Heights' career, how it shaped the lives of the band and millions of fans, and how it helped many, some for the very first time, truly understand that it's ok to not be ok.