STATE CHAMPS // RIVERSIDE, NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE
AFTER A SUCCESSFUL APPEARANCE AT DOWNLOAD, STATE CHAMPS ARE BACK IN NEWCASTLE FOR A SOLD-OUT SHOW!
STATE CHAMPS PERFORMING AT NEWCASTLE’S RIVERSIDE - 18.06.19
PICTURE BY: WILL GORMAN PHOTOGRAPHY
★★★★☆ (4.5/5)
After over two years New York based pop-punk icons are finally back at Newcastle’s Riverside. Arriving at the Riverside I was surprised to see the venue already almost filled to capacity with fans waiting in anticipation for State Champs.
Up first was Yours Truly all the way from Sydney, Australia. The quartet took to the stage for a short snappy set to warm up the excited audience. From the get go vocalist Mikaila was exploding with energy as she bounced all over the stage, this was great to see so early in the night. They were a perfect match for State Champs and warmed the audience up spectacularly. Included in their set was tracks like I can’t Feel and Delusional Paradise off their recently released EP, the group finished their set off with High Hopes their most popular track to do date.
I first saw State Champs a few years ago in London as an opener and immediately became a fan of their music due to their incredible showmanship. With the houselights finally fading the crowd began cheering and the five piece entered the stage. Straight away they wasted no time and started with Criminal, this had the crowd bouncing and crowd surfers flying. The group continued their set with Secrets and Mine is Gold before saying to the crowd “it’s great to be back on this stage after over two years.”
Back to the music! Shape Up was next from Around The World and Back, the audience were bouncing all around. Up next was Losing Myself again from Around The World and Back which had Derek DiScanio bouncing all over the stage. At this point in the set I can certainly say that the group have only got better, the growth they’ve seen is well deserved and has been great to see them develop.
Tracks Lightning, Slow Burn and Remedy flew by with constant movement from the five piece and the audience. Finishing off their set they finished with Elevated, however the crowd were not finished! The chants of “one more song, one more song” began and within seconds the returned. The last two tracks of the evening were All You Are Is History and Dead & Gone, which saw DiScanio stood on the barrier singing into the crowd while crowd surfers stormed over the barrier.
Overall State champs were great and sounded cracking. The setlist had a perfect blend of tracks of their new album Living Proof as well as previous ones. Their showmanship sets a standard for the genre and I’d recommend that you catch them while they’re currently touring throughout the EU!
SETLIST: | STATE CHAMPS : RIVERSIDE, NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE - 18.06.2019
Criminal
Secrets
Mine is Gold
Shape Up
Losing Myself
Lightning
Slow Burn
Crystal Ball
Remedy
Frozen
Simple Existence
Elevated
ENCORE:
All You Are Is History
Dead and Gone