Yellowcard are one of the more unique bands in the pop-punk scene and their 2004 album, Ocean Avenue, is considered a landmark in the genre. A 20th anniversary tour of the record was always to be a cause for celebration, with the album played in full as well as a collection of Yellowcard’s biggest hits, Manchester was ready to pop off with Yellowcard, Story of the Year and This Wild Life.
This Wild Life was first and they were a pleasant and interesting surprise in a genre that can become rather samey. The band was largely acoustic guitar driven and frontman Kevin Jordan jokingly said “We are the discount Dashboard Confessional” and it’s a fairly apt comparison.
The set included a cover of the 2000s emo classic ‘Cute without the E’ by Taking Back Sunday which got the entire crowd singing along and it also included a partial cover of ‘Country Roads’ which will always go down well in a crowd of drunken Mancs (as a drunken Manc, I’m allowed to say that).
‘Catie Rae’ has that high-energy singalong vibe that we’ve all come to love and expect from a pop-punk show. Frontman Kevin Jordan grabbed his Ukelele and managed to coax a lot of audience interaction which is impressive for the first band of the set. The bright positivity and folk vibes lend themselves perfectly to this kind of bill. The beautiful guitar work and bright synths help fill out what could have been an overly simplistic mix and even gives some extra kick when the distortion driven songs finally kick in.
The most interesting part of their set is just how expansive their use of instruments is. The Keyboardist also doubled up as the drummer and the vocalist had his own percussion setup which made him all the more interesting to watch when he wasn’t running around the stage and doing pushups. This Wild Life come highly recommended and hopefully they come back to Manchester in the future.
Next was Story of the Year, not to be confused with Story So Far, their set was a more conventional brand of pop-punk complete with soaring choruses, octave chords and boot camp booty camp drumming. The latter half of the set had much better sound as you could work out what the guitar was doing but the beginning of the set was all drums and vocals.
The songs I could make out had this quintessential 2000s punk rock vibe, ‘Anthem of Our Dying Day’ and ‘The Antidote’ felt like Rise Against tracks with their bubbling aggression and intensity. Story of the Year hasn’t played in the UK since Slam Dunk 2019 so there are definitely some people in the audience who have been patiently waiting to hear these songs live and take to the pit.
Perhaps it’s an issue with Victoria Warehouse or perhaps I need to get my hearing checked but the sound has been messy at this venue lately. The drums are punchy and the kick straight up kicks your head in at times. Overall, the band’s energy is immaculate but mired by subpar sound but hopefully, they’ll be soon with a chance to headline and maybe even bring out some new music.
Yellowcard finally came to the stage and just like frontman Ryan Key said “This is a very special time in our lives Ocean Avenue just turned 20” and their set saw the classic album played in full. Ocean Avenue is a masterful pop-punk album that has inspired so many bands over the last two decades.
The band opened with the high-energy rager of ‘Way Away,’ an amazing opener with beautiful clean chords before the distortion kicks in. The most interesting element of Yellowcard is their inclusion of the violin and Sean Mackin not only plays beautifully and adds a great deal as a lead player but he also acts as a brilliant hype man complete with bow tricks and flips.
Unlike their Slam Dunk set in 2023, Ocean Avenue was played out of order, if you were there you’d have heard frontman Ryan Key remark on the fact ‘Ocean Avenue‘ was played so early. The iconic title track was the final song of the show but in the meantime, you’d get to hear heavy tracks like ‘Breathing’ and ‘Fighting’ which could easily be played over any anime theme song and have it fit perfectly.
Once again, the mix is a bit muddled and I had to wander around the venue to find a spot with the right sound. Pro tip: the sound is usually best by the mixer but that varies from show to show. Weird mix aside, the violin mostly cut through the mix, the drums were the right amount of punchy and you could always make out Ryan’s vocals.
The set was full of other tracks from the Yellowcard back catalogue which was warmly welcomed due to the fact that Yellowcard have only played ‘Ocean Avenue’ in the UK since they came back. Tracks like ‘Rough Landing,’ ‘Holly’ and ‘Always Summer’ were glorious additions to the set and still maintained that powerful and triumphant tone the band have worked so hard to maintain.
There’s so much energy on stage, you can thoroughly believe that Yellowcard came back purely out of love for the genre and the fanbase which is a wholesome but unusual feeling. Most bands will come out of retirement for money or because they’ve been strongarmed by a label but you can really feel the love on stage as tracks like ‘Believe’ and the breakneck pace of ‘Lights and Sounds’.
There was a period where Yellowcard went on hiatus and the world of pop punk became a much darker place without them. Maybe we won’t get another 20 years of Yellowcard but we can at least savour the time we have left with the boys on Ocean Avenue.
