State Champs Remedy Your Ringing Ears

State Champs w/ Don Broco, With Confidence, Against The Current
Showbox, Seattle, WA
04.17.17

After releasing their sophomore album, Around The World And Back, nearly two years ago, State Champs finally announced their own headlining tour, in anticipation of the deluxe version’s 2017 release including live tour footage. They brought friends from around the world to Seattle for a night of pure pop-punk at The Showbox.

The night’s lineup was a bit of a long one, squeezing in four different bands all before 11pm on a Monday night. First up was Don Broco, hailing all the way from UK. Prior to the show, I hadn’t listened to a bunch of their music, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. They turned out to be one of the strongest opening acts I’ve seen in a while, making the most out of their 30-minute set.

Don Broco’s music flipped between alt-rock and pop-punk. A lot of the music and verses sounded pretty alt-rock, then suddenly switched to the type of angsty yelling/singing that marks the choruses of most pop-punk songs. “What You Do to Me” was one of the best parts of the performance. It started off slow, sounding like it could almost be the ballad of the set, but the sudden drop into the chorus had the whole band jumping perfectly in sync and the crowd cheering them on.

Next up, we jumped around the globe a little more to Australia, for With Confidence. It was another shockingly great 30-minute set. They started off with their most popular tracks, then chose to just take crowd suggestions for the “whatevs” ending of their setlist. Their sound was really nothing incredibly unique from the loads of other 20-something pop-punk bands out there, but they owned that in a way that gave their set a carefree and enjoyable air.

“Voldemort,” their most popular track, was a nice way to open the set, showing off the best of the band right away and hooking fans that weren’t quite sure about them. After hearing “Keys!” shouts from various crowd members, With Confidence launched into the beautiful track. While it’s still the kind of head-banger you wouldn’t be surprised to hear in Hot Topic, watching it live was pretty incredible. Emotion just poured off the band. With Confidence set the bar even higher after Don Broco, and certainly set the night up to be a great one.

The last supporting act was Against the Current, back in the PNW after swinging through The Crocodile in December during their own headlining tour. As a band that sounds more like Selena Gomez than Paramore, ATC seemed like an odd choice for the lineup, though they’re still in the pop-punk camp. At their December show, they took their album in a slightly different direction, thickening up the sound with more instruments, helping it sound less radio-pop.

This time around, they focused on that even more, pushing it further away from its pop roots, for a performance that matched the intensity of the other bands on the bill. Live, the tracks were almost unrecognizable from the studio recordings, but they sounded so much better. Coupled with lead singer Chrissy Costanza’s energetic and fearless performance, ATC proved again that they are a band to be reckoned with, and definitely entertained the crowd for the night.

After a quick turnover, State Champs finally took the stage for their first headlining tour. Fans quickly pushed forward to get as close to the band as possible as the first notes of “Remedy” began to play. From that moment until the very end of their set, there was at least one person every 30 seconds who rolled into the arms of the security guards as they crowd surfed their way to the front.

Their performance was high energy from start to finish, perfectly showcased in “All You Are is History.” With everyone bumping around in circle pits, getting thrown around crowd surfing, or just passionately singing along, it seemed as if each and every fan paused to stand and scream “I’m a realist, and an optimist, but I swear to you I’m not getting over this!” aggressively back at the band.

After a quick break, State Champs closed out their set with an encore of “Secrets,” the track that everyone knows the lyrics to. With both the crowd and the band jumping in sync, sweaty bodies shouted all the words for the loudest and most loving set closer they could muster.

With such a talented performance and well-rounded set, it’s shocking State Champs hasn’t headlined before, as they clearly have all the experience they need. The entire lineup of the night was a very pleasant surprise. Don Broco opened with a strong set full of energy and passion that set high standards for the night and With Confidence came in and smashed it with some refreshingly classic pop-punk. Against the Current continually proves they’re more than a band for middle schoolers, and State Champs lived up to all hopes with a wonderfully loving set that even the morning headaches from ringing ears couldn’t make you regret witnessing.

Don Broco Setlist
Everybody
You Wanna Know
Automatic
Nerve
What You Do to Me
Money Power Fame

With Confidence Setlist
Voldemort
Archers
Dinner Bell
Godzilla
Keys
We’ll Be Okay
London Lights
Keeper

Against the Current Setlist
Blood Like Gasoline
Running With the Wild Things
Talk
Forget Me Now
One More Weekend
Roses
Runaway
Gravity
Wasteland

State Champs Setlist
Remedy
Losing Myself
Shape Up
Eyes Closed
Simple Existence
Slow Burn
Deadly Conversation
All or Nothing
All You Are is History
Hard to Please
Perfect Score
Easy Enough
Mind Bottled
Breaking Ground
Tooth and Nail
Elevated
Critical
Secrets