The Chariot has been one of the most progressive hardcore punk bands in the past ten years, and they decided to go on one last tour before disbanding. With their almost non-stop tour schedule and extremely energetic live shows, The Chariot will be missed in the hardcore scene. If you have never listened to The Chariot, I highly recommend listening to all of their albums, especially the most recent release, One Wing, which is one of the most creative hardcore punk albums I have ever heard.
Birds in row is a three piece hardcore punk band from France that had the crowd up and moving. Their intensity matches that of bands like Converge, and the raw sound that they produced felt thrashy and violent. It is impressive that they were able to create such a full sound with only three band members, and the Trocadero started to come alive with this band’s performance.
Glass Cloud is an exceptionally talented band. Their guitarist played his eight string like it was a joke, and he looked out into the crowd multiples times as he tapped and laughed his way through the songs. It was crazy to see him sweep up and down the guitar like it was nothing. The bassist played a five string, and was equally as tight and heavy. He and the drummer are both graduates of Berklee College of Music, so the rhythm was pretty on point as you can imagine. The forceful bass drops that were spread throughout the songs made the music a little much, but the vocalist made up for it with his voice and screaming ability. Overall, Glass Cloud is definitely a cool band to see live.
As the headlining band readied themselves to begin playing, Josh Scogin informed the crowd that the show was a celebration. Then, The Chariot started off their final show in Philadelphia with a bang, by playing “Evan Perks,” as guitarist Stephen Harrison immediately hurdled himself into the crowd. The crowd that filled the Trocadero immediately moved forward and created a pit, and vocalist Josh Scogin did a stage dive himself to sing the end the song with the fans. The music was absolutely brutal, and you could not have asked for a better setlist. They played songs off every album, all with precision, even with both guitarists and the vocalist stage diving and going into the crowd multiple times. Some of the noticeably well done tracks of the night were “Forget,” “Not,” and the “The City” (watch a live video below). “Speak” was bulked up from the album version, and contained an explosive hardcore section towards the end. The Chariot’s final songs of the show were “Back to Back” and “The Deaf Policeman.” During the final song, they broke down the drumset and placed it in the pit while the guitarists climbed up on to the balconies of the Troc. The final song exploded with the lyrics “if there’s blood on the roots / then there’s blood on the branches.” The Chariot put on a phenomenal show that was truly one to be remembered.
Photos of Birds in row and Glass Cloud taken by Jay Breslin. Photos of The Chariot taken by Brendan Breslin.
PhillyPunk 