If Bayside are one of those bands always on the periphery of your scene knowledge... make them one of your go-to bands. Their makeshift ‘Greatest Hits’ tour has pin-balled the enigmatic five-piece through the last 25 years, and with a stop off in Nottingham's Rescue Rooms, it was a headline show hard to forget...
Welcome to The Errors tour. In a vein similar to that of pop’s biggest conglomerate star, we’re here tonight celebrating 25 years of Bayside’s existence, à la The Eras tour style. The night consists of two sets – the first half featuring songs from the band’s first four albums (the Victory Records years) and the second half featuring songs from their newer releases (Killing Time and Hopeless Records years).
If the whole "whey-oh" singalong cliché isn't exactly your forte, Cold Years will win you over with heart-on-their-sleeve thematics laid on thick. The Aberdeen quintet opened the show with enough bluster to rival that of the winds outside: chaotic, cathartic, and charismatically themselves. Packing some serious blue collar punk power, they strayed into Green Day-esque territory on a number of songs, yet that modern nostalgia kick drums any criticisms away when you realise just how much joy they’re having on stage.
Opening up with Already Gone, Bayside practically raised the roof from the get-go. In the sweat-driven, foggy-focused staging reminiscent of simpler beginnings, it’s heartwarming to see a band still clearly in love with what they do and who they’re doing it for. The feelings were clearly mutual. Frontman Anthony Raneri’s own smile seemed to shine a spotlight upon this humble occasion, noting the fantastic turnout given the dismal weather – all four men on the stage absolutely beaming as they play songs older than some audience members, on a stage that most local acts outgrow after a couple of years. Buzzin’.
You have to wonder how they keep up – from the climactic Castaway to the gut-wrenching acoustics of Don’t Call Me Peanut – over 20 songs and the four-piece don’t slow down. Jack O’Shea absolutely shreds on his guitar with what could be interpreted as a two-hour guitar solo. He’s coyly flamboyant, subtle in his slick accentuation on tracks such as I’ve Been Dead All Day yet easily just as down and dirty on Sick, Sick, Sick. He’s one of, if not the, most underrated guitarists of the scene; much like the band themselves, he seems to forever be their best kept secret.
Similarly with Chris Guglielomo on the drums, and a damn fine powerhouse at that! Go To Hell is all that you want from the punk prowess of an fine-aged band like Bayside, with at time you find yourself questioning whether the smoke rising from behind his kit is a result of the smoke machine or his sheer tenacity on the skins.
Hearing songs such as Montauk, Masterpiece and Blame It On Bad Luck could be handpicked as moments I’d personally claim were definitely worth the wait, yet arguably that sentiment could be dispersed across the whole set.
To finally witness these songs in a live environment, for a band who have so clearly crafted a setlist full of fan-favourites after fan-favourites, is physically felt throughout the room. Circling back to Don’t Call Me Peanut, the acoustic number interspersed several moments for the crowd to simply sing the words alone – now that was one of those goosebump moments that makes a live gig matter, and a loving spectacle at that.
Bayside closed what was arguably one of their best sets in a long time to Devotion And Desire. Straightforward and satisfying, the band didn’t dwell too much on semantics (just that we had a bloody good time!). The fact that a 22-song set didn’t feature a single ‘miss’ is truly testament to how good of a band Bayside is.
Bayside performed at Rescue Rooms on 10th February 2025.
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