- The Devil Wears Prada w/ Four Year Strong + Split Chain
- 4/1/26 - The Sylvee - Madison, WI
- ©Justin Nuoffer / NuofferMedia.com
A cold, wind-whipped Wednesday night in Madison, Wisconsin, didn’t keep anyone home. Outside The Sylvee, the line was already deep and pushing forward as Spring Break crowds showed up early for The Devil Wears Prada with Four Year Strong and Split Chain. Families, teens, and college kids packed in shoulder to shoulder, the energy loud, restless, and building before doors even opened. It was one of those nights where it felt like the show had already started out on the sidewalk.
With I Promise The World unable to perform this evening, the entire schedule was simply bumped up to accommodate, and that meant the rockers from Bristol were up. Split Chain opened their time by introducing themselves and when they asked the Madison crowd if they had ever heard of them before, the reaction was surprisingly loud. Opening with “Fade” and “Subside,” the Madison crowd learned quickly that there would be no time to rest.
Frontman Bert Martinez-Cowles screamed with delight, his hair flying over his face as he stomped and jumped across the stage. He often encouraged circle pits to form, and the fans were more than happy to oblige. His voice is a bit raspy and rough, which is perfect for their material.
Check out the Split Chain concert photo gallery below:
Guitarists Oli Bowles and Jake Ried supply the riffs that give them their grunge and nu-metal sound, while also providing the backing vocals. Tracks like “Bored. Tired. Torn.,” “Future,” and “Who Am I?” were the guts of their set list and accentuated their blending of genres. The fans had a mosh pit going that grew with every down pick.
The rhythm section of Tom Davies on bass and Aaron Black on drums had a strong groove throughout the set. Davies, with one foot up on the riser, headbanged with every rumble from his fingers. As a whole, Split Chain brings a unique sound that hits, and impressively enough, their song “I’m Not Dying To Be Here” was known word for word by some in the crowd. You hear all of these elements that made the 90s so much fun, and then, with extra time left, they closed with a cover from Type O Negative, “I Don’t Wanna Be Me.”
As direct support, Four Year Strong are no strangers to sharing a stage with a killer billing. The foursome from Worcester, Massachusetts, take after the historic city’s seal with a huge heart. They are appreciative and all about their bond and unity with one another. Opening with “uncooked” and “We All Float Down Here,” the energy was sky high. The entire venue came alive. Fans that lined the front barricade screamed lyrics and reached their arms out. You felt the togetherness that Alan Day and Dan O’Connor provide. Their mixed lead vocals and guitar work is something unique for modern times, but it doesn’t matter because it works to perfection.
Four Year Strong moved through the song that longtime fans love, “It Must Really Suck To Be Four Year Strong Right Now,” and cruised through “Get Out Of My Head” and “Whiplash” to get to “Brain Pain.” The song from the album of the same title marked the halfway point, and drummer Jake Massucco was still slamming the skins with relative ease, showing no signs of slowing down. Every pop of the snare drum rang out loudly and drove the tempo forward.
Through “Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die,” “Aftermath/Afterthought,” and “Seventeen,” Four Year Strong had The Sylvee crowd in a frenzy. It felt like a small room punk and hardcore show simply on a big stage, and bassist Joe Weiss played a big part in it. He was wildly active as he bounced and slung his instrument around. It was impressive.
Check out the Four Year Strong concert photo gallery below:
The fans sang along to every word, and “Dead End Friends” upped the ante as the band pushed into the final two tracks of the night. The pit kept growing in intensity, and it couldn’t have been any better in that moment. Closing with “Daddy of Mine” and “Wasting Time (Eternal Summer)” left a special reminder of the brotherhood that the genre provides. Well done, Four Year Strong. Well done.
With a Madison crowd already riled up, a dim stage basking in purple lighting sat still. The back line had drummer Giuseppe Capolupo on a riser to the left, and across the stage on the right, Johnathan Gering had his keyboards and synthesizers. In between was a small ramp that led up to a round video screen that looked like the portal from the movie Stargate. The setup was simple. The centerpiece flashed variations on the band’s triangle logo.
The Devil Wears Prada came out and opened their set with two tracks from their 2025 release Flowers. “Where The Flowers Never Grow” and “So Low” brought fans the new direction and sound the band has taken on for this album cycle, but they followed it up with an all-time classic in post-hardcore, “Danger: Wildman.” That song alone ignited the atmosphere and sent the Madison crowd into chaos. Bodies started flying across the circle pit, and crowd surfers came in hot and heavy. Since 2009, the song has instigated the same reaction from fans.
Out front on main vocals and backing guitar are Mike Hranica and his counterpart, Jeremy DePoyster, who share vocals and main guitar riffs, yelling, “Hello?” to the crowd and stating, “I don’t think we’ve played a show in Madison.” Hranica counters with, “We have.” “I vaguely remember back at a skate park.” The two continued to exchange quips about it being twenty years ago, and the older fans cheered. Then DePoyster stated, “This is the Flowers tour, but this song isn’t from it.”
The next section of songs was a few from the previous record, Color Decay. Encouraging the crowd to jump along to “Watchtower,” “Salt,” and “Broken,” they were greeted with a thank you after each song and given security props for catching crowd surfers. The friendly nature was refreshing with all of the negativity out in the world right now, and that led them into a perfectly timed “Everybody Knows,” with Hranica telling the crowd he is a Wisconsinite and lives a few counties over. He even told them of his love for the venue and the state itself. DePoyster quipped, “Everybody go buy a shirt because he has a twenty-thousand-dollar pull tab debt.” The crowd erupted in laughter as pull tabs are part of Wisconsin bar culture. However, he added, “Just kidding, I learned what pull tabs were today,” leading to more laughter.
On stage, the precision of the band led them into a killer stretch of “Supernova,” “Outnumbered,” and “Dogs Can Have Beards All Over” that hit on different albums and crossed different eras of The Devil Wears Prada. The set list and live performance were well curated. The visuals were simple, but the video portal constantly flicked on different colors and clips that correlated to their songs. The lighting was a mixture of orange, purple, red, and blue. The colors established the mood behind the meanings, and three more tracks from Flowers: “Ritual,” “When You’re Gone,” and “For You.” The emotional toll the songs put you on is a rollercoaster worth the ride.
Guitarist Kyle Sipress used the entire left side of the stage as his platform to stomp around as he laid down impressive guitar licks one after another, and his fire ignited more and more the deeper into the night it got. With “Kansas” and “Dez Moines” dishing out the heavy, Sipress crushed it. His sound soared over The Sylvee’s busy crowd.
The chaos of the general admission floor visibly kicked up condensation from the bodies colliding. Teens and college kids ran in and out of the pit to get theirs, and it didn’t slow down with “Chemical” and “Sacrifice.” However, all things were about to be unleashed with the intro to “Play The Old Shit” blaring over the PA: “I Fucking Hate The Devil Wears Prada.” Cheers came from every angle of the venue. As with most of the commentary being comedic and warm, this song placement was much of the same, seeing as Hranica stated quite boldly, “We are going to play some old ones.”
The old ones are staples of every The Devil Wears Prada tour, starting with “Assistant To The Regional Manager” from With Roots Above and Branches Below and closing it out with “Hey John, What’s Your Name Again?” from Plagues. The tracks from the late 2000s show the band’s roots. The early years, when they were still formulating their sound but also forging a lasting impact. Their unforgivably heavy and brutal songs smash with an iron fist to the chest. All hell broke loose on the floor as fans got every last ounce of energy out of them.
Check out The Devil Wears Prada concert photo gallery below:
The Devil Wears Prada proves with every release that they are artists. They cross sounds and genres with ease, and their earnest approach is admirable. If the evening proved anything, they are still at the top of their game. Fans took their time leaving the venue. Many lined up at the merch booth to grab various shirts, albums, and trinkets. Heading outside, many were taking their photos underneath the marquee to memorialize their night out. The vibes were positive and still lively. It was hard not to leave energized after a twenty-song onslaught and a ton of laughter. The Devil Wears Prada killed it, and hopefully they return to Madison soon enough.
Catch The Devil Wears Prada on the Road…
