Mayday Parade, Knuckle Puck & Milestones
House of Blues // Chicago, IL // April 22, 2017

In the past couple of years, the once occasional anniversary tours have now come to be expected for well-loved records. I still think they’re a really cool and very special thing for bands to be doing, so when Mayday Parade announced the 10-year anniversary tour for A Lesson In Romantics, I was really excited, along with probably every other adult who never really grew out of being an angsty teenager. Many dates sold out almost immediately, and when the time came around for the show to stop in Chicago, it absolutely did not disappoint.

U.K. band Milestones opened up the show while the line outside was still pouring into the venue. They played an energy-filled set, leaving the crowd bobbing their heads to the beat of the music. The crowd immediately picked up the pace as Knuckle Puck took the stage for their hometown show. The band played a 10-song set, mostly playing songs off of 2015’s Copacetic.

The standing room and balcony were packed by the point Mayday Parade got on stage. They played A Lesson In Romantics all the way through, beginning with “Jamie All Over.” As soon as they began, the voices from the crowd overpowered the instrumentals from onstage, a theme that continued for the entirety of the album. After closing out ALIR with “You Be the Anchor That Keeps My Feet on the Ground, I’ll Be the Wings That Keep Your Heart in the Clouds,” frontman Derek Sanders played a cover of “Yesterday” by the Beatles. The rest of the night consisted of songs like fan favorites “Terrible Things” and “Three Cheers For Five Years” as well as “When You See My Friends” and “Oh Well, Oh Well” off of 2010’s self-titled record, “Kids In Love” off of 2009’s Anywhere But Here and Black Lines’ “Keep in Mind, Transmogrification Is a New Technology.” At the end of the night, it’s safe to say that everyone was elated by the incredible performance and a night of nostalgia.

MILESTONES

KNUCKLE PUCK

MAYDAY PARADE