New York emo veterans Bayside came to Toronto celebrating their 25^th anniversary and did it by playing consecutive nights at The Opera House. Each night with a unique set so long-time fans can enjoy their favourites over the past two decades. Night one saw them playing songs from Sirens And Condolences, Self-Titled, The Walking Wounded, and Shudder.

Opening this leg of the tour is Sincere Engineer fronted by Deanna Belos. Their sound could be classified as emo revival or new wave emo. Heavily influenced by bands like The Lawrence Arms and Alkaline Trio with a recipe that would be welcomed with open arms from the bayside community. They have fun on stage and the crowd fed off that energy throughout the set.

Like most bands from this era, Bayside have aged like a fine wine and sound just as good now as they did 20 years ago. Opening their set with “Montauk,” a sure way to get the crowd jumping in synchronization. After a few more high energy tracks, the band went into fan favourite “Don’t Call Me Peanut”, which was prompted earlier in the set than intended due to a slight technical issue. The crowd and band embraced this moment beautifully together with a singalong that brought on a wave of goosebumps. The band also shared nice little anecdotes about previous times playing in Toronto over the years that made the show feel more intimate and personal. It’s not often you see bands where each member is so involved in interacting with the crowd and just having a great time. Bassist Nick Ghanbarian, and guitarist Jack O’Shea were constantly on the mics in between songs making jokes. They all expressed how grateful they were to have the fans stick by them after all these years and it was clear they were being genuine.

Frontman Anthony Raneri really knew how to motivate the crowd into singing along and chose to jump in and out at the perfect times. This was especially hair-raising on the tracks played during the encore which eventually led to the crowd completely overpowering the sound of the band for an epic and heartfelt conclusion to night one at The Opera House.

(Photography by Jacob Vandergeer)