Hawthorne Heights, Mest, The Ataris
w/ Handguns, London Falling
Bottom of the Hill
SOLD OUT
San Francisco, CA
February 19, 2016
Editor's Note: This article was written by contributing writer Cassie Kolias and edited by Jared Stossel for Shameless Promotions & Media.
What happens when you combine bands with epic anthems that defined young adulthood for numerous emo kids who grew up to be polite adults, and an aching nostalgia that makes you feel both young again and much older at the same time? You get The Three Headed Monstour– featuring triple headliners Hawthorne Heights, The Ataris, and Mest – at Bottom of The Hill in San Francisco.
Switching up the lineup each night of the tour, The Ataris took the stage first on Friday night to a sold out crowd. After opening with “In This Diary,” vocalist and guitarist Kris Roe addressed the audience by saying, “we are starting out strong so we can disappoint you the rest of the night.” But they did just the opposite.
Their set consisted mostly of songs from the albums Blue Skies, Broken Hearts…Next 12 Exits and So Long, Astoria. I had long forgotten how much I enjoyed The Ataris and forgot how good they were, and they were the perfect opening act to take me back to the early 2000s.
Hawthorne Heights got the next nod, and they took the stage, clad in all white. In honor of the 10-year anniversary of If Only You Were Lonely, the band's second studio album, they performed the record from front to back. What ensued was an explosive set from start to finish, and probably the most polite circle pit that I’ve ever encountered.
Hawthorne Heights finished playing the album, and couldn’t leave the stage without performing what is undoubtedly their most well-known track “Ohio is For Lovers,” It was epic. It was everything you wanted, nostalgic and buzzing. The crowd, whom had already been going nuts the whole night, amped it up a notch. When frontman JT Woodruff decided he was going to stage dive (with a sign that says “no stage diving” about two feet away), he warned the crowd not to drop him. They didn’t.
Last up, but certainly not least, was Mest. The band was electric from the start of the first song, “Long Days Long Nights,” and they expected the same level of electricity from the crowd. The band stopped after the first few notes of the second song because not every single person was jumping. The crowd obliged and what followed was a non-stop set seeped in energy. The band played a variety of songs, mostly from albums Destination Unknown, Wasting Time, and Broken Down.
Mest finished the night with the popular track “Cadillac,” and it was a Friday night that high school me would have died to witness (adult me was pretty stoked too).
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This has been another Shameless Promotion.