We have all seen how grandiose anniversaries can be: America’s 250th, 20 years of the Baja Blast, and now, 25 years of Four Year Strong. The proud Worcester natives have been champions of the city since their inception, playing countless holiday shows at the Palladium (and Ralph’s Diner), earning the keys to the city, and putting on a massive all-day music festival in the parking lot of their home venue: Seven Hills Festival.
Announced back in early May, seemingly out of nowhere, Four Year Strong have taken the leap to replace their annual Worcester holiday show with a specially curated fest. Hosted at the Palladium Outdoors on a (thankfully) beautiful summer day, ten hand-picked bands alternated across two stages over the course of seven hours. Among the performers were younger bands like Origami Angel, SPACED, and One Step Closer, while more veteran acts, such as A Loss For Words and Silverstein, helped bridge the gap of the audience.
Four Year Strong spent their stage time commemorating the album that started it all, Rise or Die Trying. Their seminal record turns twenty next September, and it remains a staple of their discography and setlists, despite the band openly admitting that playing some of the songs can be difficult. That’s most due to “writing the songs before our balls dropped,” as said by singer/guitarist Dan O’Connor. Regardless, the band continues to power through the songs they wrote twenty years later and the reaction from the crowd is never disappointing.
Other acts of the day also reconciled with their tenure in their respective bands. Knuckle Puck singer Joe Taylor regaled how the band was turning fifteen before leading into one of their first hit songs, “No Good.” A Loss For Words singer Matt Arsenault asked the crowd “can you believe we’re still doing this shit?” during their rare appearance on the lineup. A Loss For Words played their purported “final farewell show” back in 2015, but they still manage to pop up and play benefit shows and anniversaries from time to time. Direct support veterans Silverstein held the oldest tenure at twenty-six years as a band, which easily brought the cumulative age of the festival lineup to over 100 years. Despite the differences, each and every band took the time to pay their respects to Four Year Strong and everything the band has done to support and uplift their scene and their local community.
Four Year Strong will be taking a year off from their annual holiday show in lieu of the festival, but they rarely hibernate long before hitting the stage again. Regardless, it is clearer than ever that Seven Hills Festival marks a new chapter for Four Year Strong as they continue to put on for their city and show the world they have plenty of gas left in the tank.
Check out the rest of Cam’s photos below.
