by photojournalist Ryan Marchese

We had to wait almost a year for this show, but holy hell was it worth it! Silverstein and Thursday were originally slated to play Jannus Live way back in January. That seems like a lifetime ago with everything that has happened in the last 11 months. Thanks to a sudden snowstorm blocking their way from Atlanta into Florida, the St. Pete stop had to be postponed. It was a huge bummer at the time, and I was concerned that the lineup may change with it being so far from the original date, but everything worked out in the end and I’m still feeling the concert high from Saturday night.

For me, this was a dream show and a big check off my bucket list. Silverstein and Thursday were huge influences on my musical taste growing up. Silverstein was blowing up at the time when I was in high school and being an NJ native, I was a huge fan of Thursday. I own every record each band has put out and I’ve watched them both perform countless times, but I haven’t seen them at the same show since Warped Tour 2006. And more importantly, this was the first time I was photographing either band, so it was the perfect way to wrap up my 2025 concert coverage run of a massive year packed with new music and anniversaries.

Bloom kicked things off with a bang! Usually, fans are still filling up the courtyard at Jannus when the opener takes the stage and there’s a significant amount of space to navigate and take shots from different angles of the stage. That was not the case. It was already pretty packed and the crowd was ready to rock. The Sydney based melodic hardcore band joined the tour thanks to their great friendship with the following act Free Throw. Their energy right out of the gate was a sign that the night would be epic. As someone who only recognized them by name, they blew me away. The band looked like they were having a blast and the crowd was feeling it, already moshing and getting rowdy in the early evening hours. I immediately started following them on socials and Spotify and plan to pick up their records after doing a deep dive.

After Bloom got the crowd all warmed up, Free Throw took the stage. I hadn’t listened to anything recent from them, so I was expecting a little more of the Midwest emo/screamo vibe circa 2014 and their performance to be a little more on the mellow side. I was pleasantly surprised with their set. It was anything, but mellow. Though their emo roots remain firmly intact, the band’s sound has evolved into something sharper and more energetic, laced with indie and pop-punk influences and seasoned with just the right amount of grit. They put on a great show and have me wanting to revisit their catalog to catch up on what I’ve missed.

While visiting family and friends in New Jersey during the summer of 2024, I had the chance to see Thursday play Atlantic City, joined by Stick to Your Guns. It was right after they came out of a 13-year hiatus with new music and in our home state. It was a great show with two of my closest friends and the entire crowd knew every word that Geoff belted out. So you can imagine the euphoria of the room. Their performance this Saturday at Jannus went above and beyond that. I’m not sure if it’s because I was able to experience their performance through my lens or that they’ve been back in the groove of things for over a year now, or some other variable or combination of all of them, but this was such a standout performance.

Geoff was all over the stage, at times jumping into the air or climbing on top of equipment and even collapsing to his knees for a solemn serenade of “This Song Brough to You by a Falling Bomb.” Their set was the perfect combination of deep cuts, newer works, and then hits from everything in between. “Jet Black New Year” always goes hard and as expected, this time was no different. Tracks like “Understanding a Car Crash” or “War All the Time” get even the shyest fans singing along, but I really appreciated “Signals Over the Air” and the message behind the song with everything going on in the world and our country right now. Thursday has been a cornerstone of the post-hardcore music scene in the tri-state area as well as the industry, so I’m eager to see what comes next.

It is wild to think Silverstein has been cranking out music since we entered the new Millenium and everything that has changed between then and now. Friends that have come and gone, loved ones lost, career changes, cross-country moves, the list goes on. With all that change, I’m really thankful for Silverstein being there along the way as part of the soundtrack to my life. They are one of those bands that really hits home with me. Their music spans from light and beautiful at times, though maybe on the melancholic side thanks to trauma, to heavy and hurt, aggressive and cathartic. Each record holds a special place in my heart and I know I’m not the only one.

As the members stepped onto the stage, an intro played across the massive screen behind them. It showed clips of a bunch of crazy kids from Canada just making music they were passionate about (sometimes only playing to a handful of scene kids in a rec room) and then the infamous American Idol clip where a contestant screamed out the lyrics of “Smashed Into Pieces” at Simon, Paula, and Randy and their first appearance at Warped Tour. And when that long journey from 2000 collided with the present, Silverstein proved to Jannus Live their story is far from over. If the crowd was a powder keg, then “Negative Space” was the match. Jannus Live erupted with cheering and singing as the single from Pink Moon filled the brisk, night air. After almost a year of postponement, finally hearing this track live was surreal.

Following “Negative Space,” they played “Drain the Blood” which is also off of their latest release and follow up to Antibloom. Their set then proceeded by taking the crowd at Jannus on a trip through their discography from the last 25 years. They played at least one track off of every full-length album and even threw in a cover of Good Clean Fun’s “You Gotta Stay Positive” and replacing the outro to “World Apart” with a partial cover of “Helena” by My Chemical Romance. Their encore featured an acoustic performance of “My Heroine,” as well as “Smashed Into Pieces” and “Bleeds No More.” The night proved that the emotion, urgency, and connection that first drew people to the band are still there, hitting just as hard 25 years later. As the final chords of “Bleeds No More” rang out and the columns of fog from behind the stage dissipated, Silverstein proved to every fan at Jannus that even though they hit a major “Milestone,” they aren’t “Giving Up.” It isn’t “The End.” Their endurance, passion, and love for the fans is “Infinite.”