If you have been paying attention to The Aquarian‘s social media, following the website, or just tracking buzz online, you’ve probably seen our When We Were Young coverage. (The special WWWY series actually comes to a conclusion today!) However, one set from the duration of the festival back in October that deserves special recognition is A Day To Remember’s full performance of Homesick.
A seminal album for the band, Homesick was released on February 2, 2009. It forever changed the landscape of the scene and still influences artists today. Bands had previously been considered pop punk, hardcore, or metal, but never a combination of the three. The genres were adjacent, but still very separate. It wasn’t until Homesick came out and seamlessly fused genres together that the separate circles slowly became a venn diagram. The sounds overlapped with ease and redefined what the scene could be. Pop punk wasn’t too light for hardcore kids, and metal wasn’t too heavy for pop punk fans. This record made all these separate groups come together to form one massive alternative rock community.
Furthermore, Homesick was the album that got so many people into heavier styles of music. It was a gateway at the time. Some people naturally just like heavy music (More power to you!), but a lot of people found that A Day To Remember was their way of discovering screaming in songs. Most fans don’t go right from Blink-182 straight into Cannibal Corpse, and with A Day to Remember, their sound was accessible enough for a mainstream audience to enjoy, but had enough of an edge to feel raw and unpolished for the original hard rockers. Homesick was a cultural revolution.
The band played the record from start to finish on both nights of When We Were Young Festival. They unearthed some deep cuts that fans will likely never hear live again. Tracks like “NJ Legion Iced Tea” and “Holdin’ It Down For The Underground” are once in a lifetime songs. Fans that had the privilege to hear those tracks live are some of the lucky ones.
Photo by Jazmyn Le / When We Were Young
A Day to Remember also recreated the album cover behind them while performing. The purple vines of the hardcore jungle were sprawled out as they tore up the stage. It wasn’t just an LED screen, by the way – they actually built the album cover with physical props that came to life. It was this attention to detail that made it one of the best sets of the whole festival and entire weekend.
The band had a special guest appearance, as well, bringing out Mike Hranica from The Devil Wears Prada to perform on “I’m Made of Wax Larry, What Are You Made of.” Mike actually performed on the original recording of the song, so with this performance on stage during the album-play, fans could hear the track in the most tried and true way possible. At the end of the set, ADTR shot millions of pieces of purple confetti into the audience right at the build of “If It Means A Lot To You.” It felt like a movie moment.
As a group, they also sounded so clear and were musically and physically tight. Each member of the band would head bang simultaneously and jump perfectly on beat; all the while every note sounded flawless and just like the recording. For a band that has been around as long as A Day To Remember, it’s obvious now more than ever that they refuse to let themselves slip.
It has been 15 years since Homesick dropped and both the community and industry has been so much better because of it. We’re thrilled that the band decided to honor this album at When We Were Young. It was the kind of performance (and album) that just stays with you for weeks on end. Over a month away since the show and it still feels just as vivid as it did then. If you were fortunate enough to be in that crowd, you’ll never forget it. We know that we won’t.
