Story of the Year•Four Years Strong•November 14, 2023•The Complex
Reviewed and Photographed by Sasha Steadman
Dan Marsala may have needed to catch his breath but Story Of The Year didn’t skip a beat.
Yay for altitude change, anniversaries, and even Waldo made a front-row appearance. Before I begin to dive into the incredible show they served Salt Lake on November 15th let’s take it back to 2003 when Page Avenue first made an appearance on the scene any emo kid around can still sing “Until The Day I Die” word for word and don’t even get me started on “Anthem Of Our Dying Day”. Forming in St. Louis Missouri, in 1995 just making music they love. It’s incredible that twenty years later “Page Avenue” is still a powerful album that resonates through generations.
November 14th The Complex, Salt Lake City. Youth Fountain opened with a friendly Canadian welcome “Canadians are friendly eh” they brought a good energy and had a good time, usually opening is a tough crowd situation but not in this case. Four Year Strong came on stage swinging and ready to get the crowd ready. It’s been years since I’ve seen a surfer or two among the crowd. It took me back to the days when my summers were planned around Warped Tour every year and I was one of them. Can anyone in their 30’s relate? No, just me?
One thing I found so sweet was if you looked stage right, the audience left a little boy sleeping away on the stairs, during their whole set. Sorry Four Year Strong he probably was saving his energy for the main act because he was nowhere to be found on those stairs once Story Of The Year came on. He wasn’t the only little one jamming out with their precious concert ear muffs. Here’s to a possible forty-year tour for good taste music making its way through generations.
Now for the main act, not a single dry seat some traveling all the way from Reno Nevada singing every word of every song Dan sounded just as incredible as he did when they released “Page Avenue”. Our Utah altitude may have been giving him a run for his money but you definitely couldn’t tell he was hitting those notes like the pro he is. We didn’t even mind the couple catching my breath breaks he needed.
When you’ve been in the game as long as they have your fans feel more like friends and this show was no exception. They also gave us a little live taste of their recent album with “War” to keep things current. Not sure about you but its shows like this that remind me why my love for music is so profound. Connecting generations, basking in nostalgia, driving across state lines. All for the music. So if for any unfortunate reason you were unable to make it to the Complex you can catch them here serving up one hell of a good time.