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A DAY TO REMEMBER, YELLOWCARD, STATE CHAMPS, BOUNDARIES In Houston, TX With Photos! By Larry Petro, News Monkey Friday, September 26, 2025 @ 10:50 AM
When the Maximum Fun Tour featuring A DAY TO REMEMBER, YELLOWCARD, STATE CHAMPS and BOUNDARIES was first announced I didn't think too much of it other than posting the news to the KNAC.COM website because even though I had heard of all the bands on the bill, I had never really taken the time to actually listen to any of them. And for that very reason covering the show in The Woodlands, Texas wasn't even on my radar until my oldest son brought it up saying that ADTR was one of his favorite bands and since the two of us hadn't been to a concert together since I took him to see IRON MAIDEN in 2012 I figured what the hell, it couldn't hurt to expand one's horizons a bit, could it? As fate would have it, a sick child and then a sick wife 24 hours later would cause him to have to bow out. But I promised him that I would send him pics and live clips throughout the night so he could at least feel like he was there. So was it the 'maximum fun' that the tour was billed out to be? Read on and see.....
https://boundariesct.com/
Setlist:
https://statechamps.band/
Setlist:
By the time YELLOWCARD took the stage I noticed an increase in the number of security personnel in the barricade as if they were anticipating something.... crowd surfers perhaps? Once they launched into opener "Only One" the crowd's energy jumped. Straight into "Lights And Sounds" they went and it became quite apparent that the crowd knew every song, every word and sang the entire time. Third song, "Breathing", brought out the first blasts of pyro, something that would be used aplenty for the duration of the evening from that point on. And with a brand new album Better Days set to drop on October 10th, the band would include 3 songs from it including the title track, "Bedroom Posters", which was a big hit with the fans, and "honestly i". The band's breakthrough Ocean Avenue opus from 2003 would receive the lion's share of songs performed, with the aforementioned "Breathing", "Believe" and "Only One" making the cut.
As anticipated, crowd surfing ensued early and often in their set which kept security busy and the crowd happy. When YELLOWCARD began the closing number "Ocean Avenue" the crowd roared their approval. As the second chorus began confetti blasted into the air from cannons positioned on either side of the stage as the crowd roared once again. What a solid set from YELLOWCARD and though the band might be just a bit too 'poppy' for most KNAC listeners/readers, they also brought the energy and yes, there's that 'F' word again, 'fun'.
Setlist:
One thing about ADTR is the anthem-like songs they have, and there are a lot of them based on this set. Songs that were meant for the live arena, including the first tune played from their 2025 release Big Ole Album Vol. 1 in "Bad Blood" that the energy surged along with the pyro and cryo that would permeate almost every song they played. Paranoia" followed, along with the first circle pit of the evening as the fans more than obliged frontman Jeremy McKinnon's commands to do so. By the time the newest single from the new album, All My Friends" started, the band and the crowd were in full-on party mode as the pyro went up and the confetti came down. McKinnon was clearly enjoying himself throughout as he smiled and frequently pointed to members of the audience and made sure that each of us shooting in the barricade got a special pose. It was crystal clear that he was having 'maximum fun'. And the crowd? Well, let's just say that during the chorus of "Aww shit, here we go again, another night our here with all my friends" they probably could have been heard a mile away from the venue. The audience was indeed having 'maximum fun' as well.
Prior to the song "LeBron", stagehands rolled out two huge basketball goals onto the stage and when the song began beach ball size inflatable basketballs were tossed into the crowd with the lucky ones getting to try their hand at shooting a hoop. ADTR switched up their set a bit with the inclusion of a 'random song nobody knows' according to McKinnon as they played "Die For Me", complete with t-shirt cannons launching merch into the crowd, followed by "The Plot To Bomb The Panhandle", a fitting number for the state of Texas.
Was it A DAY TO REMEMBER? Definitely. Was it 'Maximum Fun'? Absolutely. Thank you son for suggesting this one. THIS is what a rock show is all about! Color me impressed.
https://adtr.com/
Setlist:
Remaining Dates:
Check out some more photos from the show!
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Summer currently still has a firm hold on southern Texas at this point in time so as expected it was hot with temps in the upper 90s and humidity somewhere north of sauna. With 4 bands on the bill that meant an early start time and sure enough, Hartford, Connecticut based metalcore juggernaut BOUNDARIES took the stage at 6:30 sharp as most of the crowd was still arriving. The band has undergone numerous lineup changes over the years but the current iteration of vocalist Matthew McDougal, guitarists Cory Emond and Cody DelVecchio, bassist Nathan Calcagno and drummer Tim Sullivan were up to the task of getting things rolling on this evening, their 7 song performance comprised mostly of songs from the most release, Death is Little More, from March of last year, beginning with the ferocious "A Pale Light Lingers" "Darkness Shared". Admittedly, I am not a huge fan of Cookie Monster-type vocals but hey, to each their own, right? But for those that do like that sort of thing, BOUNDARIES set was brutally done from that standpoint. There certainly was no shortage of energy from McDougal as he couldn't seem to stand still for more than a second or two at a time, making me earn my money as a photographer, if I was actually getting paid that is. The band took their bows with the finale of "Easily Erased" and it was clear that band #1 on the evening was definitely having 'fun'. Catch them on the Vans Warped Tour stop in Orlando in November.
This band was more up my alley as they were catchy and melodic with earworm-worthy choruses. They certainly had the crowd enjoying themselves but most importantly, they were, and were having, 'fun'. That's 2/2 now. STATE CHAMPS will also be at the Orlando stop of the Vans Warped Tour in November. Hell, I might as well just say it now.... ALL of the bands on this bill will be performing there. Actually this tour could have been a mini Vans Tour in itself as I'm pretty sure at least one or two of them have participated in those tours from yesteryear.
Their set got underway with a guy in motocross gear riding out onto the stage on a bicycle toting a t-shirt cannon which he proceeded to use by launching several shirts into the crowd. As he departed, guitarist Ryan Mendez came out front by himself and began playing the intro theme to the Top Gun movies, slowly to be joined by Singer/guitarist Ryan Key, bassist Josh Portman, touring drummer Jimmy Brunkvist and violinist, yes violinist Sean Mackin. Obviously those of you that know all about the band are already fully aware of that fact but for guys like me with little to no knowledge of the band it was a bit of a surprise.
At some point during the evening someone from the tour went around the crowd passing out special passes to lucky individuals that would allow them to watch the entire ADTR performance from behind the drum riser and associated platforms that would flank either side of the kit, all women of course and at rough count around 25 of them. As the band launched into "The Downfall Of Us All" with cryo cannons shooting pillars into the sky, the crowd went nuts and crowdsurfing commenced almost immediately, causing us photographers to keep one eye on the stage ad one eye over our shoulders for the duration of the 2 songs we got. They followed it up with a song that could have been directed at me in name with "I'm Made of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made Of?", and the band got "Right Back At It Again".
Instead of the usual 'leaving the stage and getting the crowd to cheer you back for encores', the band just stayed onstage and finished thing up with the trio of "If It Means A Lot To You" (more confetti here), "All I Want" and "All Signs Point to Lauderdale", capping things off with streamers shot into the air. Needless to say, everyone went home happy and spent.
