BAYSIDE
6/28/25 – Emo’s – Austin, TX
©Michael Mullenix Photography
This past weekend, Austin’s premier music hall, Emo’s, hosted New York punk legends Bayside for 2 nights to celebrate 25 years of their music. This played out as a split exploration of their sound, with each night showcasing their earlier material and their later work. Friday’s show would consist of hits (and a ton of them) from the albums Shudder, The Walking Wounded, Sirens and Condolences, and their self-titled album. The second night consisted of everything from Killing Time onward.
On that note, the stage was primed on Saturday, June 28th, as Bayside bounded onstage one last time during this tour to the haunting melody of “How To Ruin Everything (Patience).” Once the pounding power chords kicked in, the audience was on their feet, jumping and moshing, and the room was pure electricity.
To editorialize for a second, I opted for the 2nd night as a challenge, to see if I could draw any new conclusions from the latter half of the band’s career and see what lessons we might learn from this. The funniest aspect of this second night was how much the band actually kept apologizing to the crowd. Banter between songs would somewhat acknowledge that all the major hits were mostly saved for the Friday show. Sure, both nights had their fan-favorites, and comparatively, the first night was always going to win out in that department with songs that have become veritable classics at this point.
However, the second night turned out to be the hidden gem night. Fans who chose only this night knew it might be their only chance to hear songs like “Prayers” or “Objectivist On Fire.” They were still treated to sing-alongs like “Interobang” or the acoustic “It Don’t Exist,” but the undeniable standout of the evening came in the form of “Indiana,” a B-side from the album Cult. Anthony Raneri introduced the song as a deep-cut, and this would probably be the only time it would be played live. A great song that could easily be in their regular rotation, but if this was the only time fans would get to hear it live, they earned their special occasion.
If there is one fatal flaw of Bayside’s two-night 25-Year In Review concept, it’s consistency. The level of their earlier output has always been top notch, and so their later material….. feels right at home. Not that it all sounds the same, but songs like “I’ve Been Dead All Day,” “Big Cheese,” or “Pigsty” fit right at home alongside “Duality” and “Blame It On Bad Luck.” There were no radical shifts in style or songwriting; certainly not enough to be readily recognizable to the untrained.
If I’m being honest, I mistakenly always thought the evening’s closer, “Sick, Sick, Sick,” was a part of the first album. It feels like if you ever liked Bayside, you always liked Bayside. Speaking of the closer, the band gave Austin fans one last chance to sing their lungs out to the encores of “Bury Me” and “Sick, Sick, Sick,” sending them home with thunderous cheers!
Check out the Bayside concert photo gallery below:
