AP Tour ft. State Champs and Neck Deep
March 9, 2016
Baltimore Soundstage- Baltimore, MD
The North American leg of the Alternative Press 2016 World Tour began back in February with plans to travel throughout some parts of Canada and the US by the end of March. State Champs and Neck Deep are co-headlining this tour this year and we couldn’t be anymore excited. The boys of State Champs and Neck Deep are accompanied by Knuckle Puck and Like Pacific. All four bands recently released new albums: Around the World and Back (State Champs), Life’s Not Out to Get You (Neck Deep), Copacetic (Knuckle Puck), and Distant Like You Asked (Like Pacific).
Canadian pop-punk band, Like Pacific, took the stage at Soundstage in Baltimore, MD on March 9th. By the second song, a mosh pit had formed. The packed floor was already full of fans shoving and slamming their bodies into anything in their path, and this was only the opening band. Those on the fringe of the mosh pit found themselves along the outskirts of the chaos, near the bar area. Those people were both watching the concert and also were making sure they didn’t find themselves in the middle of that mess. Like Pacific’s set consisted of mostly of songs from Distant Like You Asked, but they also included older hits such as Suffering, Clarity, and Sigh of Relief.
The second band to perform was Knuckle Puck, a punk band from good ole Chicago. They performed a handful of songs from their newest album Copacetic such as, Disdain, Pretense, Evergreen, and True Contrite, as well as some older popular hits like No Good, In My Room, and But Why Would You Care? Midway through their set, frontman Joe Taylor discussed the making of their latest album, saying that they weren’t sure what direction to take with it, but all they knew was that they “wanted it to be 
copacetic, because at the end of it all, everything is good. No matter how bad things get in life, you wake up in the morning, and you’re alive and you can open your eyes and you’re breathing, and everything is copacetic.” With that being said, this band definitely knew how to get everyone off their feet.
Getting the crowd even more rowdy then it already was for the last two sets, Neck Deep, another pop-punk band took the stage. The only downside to their set was that singer, Ben Barlow was feeling quite under the weather and didn’t perform, but the boys of Neck Deep had a plan, so they brought out their Tour Manager as well as Like Pacific’s singer Jordan Black. They played almost the entirety of their newest album, Life’s Not Out to Get You, among older songs such as Gold Steps, Can’t Kick Up The Roots, and a full-band version of December. The crowd went wild during their performance of Serpents, and they also played songs from their first and second albums, like Growing Pains, and Losing Teeth.
Closing out the night was State Champs, a pop-punk band from Upstate New York. The venue was packed full of sweaty fans who anxiously waited for State Champs to take the stage. Once on the stage everyone went wild, security couldn’t even catch a breath from retrieving crowd surfers. The boys of State Champs kicked off their set performing Eyes Closed, from their latest record, Around the World and Back. They continued to play songs from their newest album, with hits such as Secrets, All You Are Is History, Perfect Score, All or Nothing, and Tooth and Nail. Derek Steez, the lead singer took a breath and stated that he asked fans to request the songs they performed during this tour, and because of that fans got to hear some older songs played live, which nobody was complaining about. Some of the older songs they played were Elevated, Hard To Please, Remedy, Critical, and Easy Enough, and played If I’m Lucky, from their album The Acoustic Things. State Champs are one of those bands you could see over and over again (if you’re into them) and not get sick of their set. The energy they bring to the stage is just amazing.
Review by: Alyssa Howell
State Champs
Neck Deep
Knuckle Puck
Like Pacific
