More than two decades into their career Four Year Strong are back in the UK to perform to lifelong fans and promote their eighth full length album ‘Analysis Paralysis’. This electrifying show was held at KOKO in Camden, a staple london venue that was happy to see them return after their last performance in 2017 on the ‘Rise or Die Trying 10th Anniversary tour’.
The EU/UK 2025 tour has run throughout all of February and has visited countries such as Germany and France and included 8 UK dates! With continued hits throughout the last 2 decades fans swarmed to catch them live, and boy was it worth it.
Shoreline were first to take to the stage, a four piece band that have been releasing music since 2017. The German emo punk/hardcore band have been to the UK twice before but never seen a crowd quite like this. Frontman Hansol Seung wasted no time in telling the crowd to get energised and rowdy and exclaiming how impressed he was when the crowd reciprocated his enthusiasm.
This high energy band was a perfect warm up getting fans clapping, cheering and even singing along to them which is a tough feat for the first in any line up. Hansol also took a moment to make a speech about how the band has zero tolerance for homophobia, transphobia, racism etc. which was met with overwhelming cheers and highlighted the decency of the crowd these bands have drawn together.
Next up was Koyo, running onto the stage receiving a formidable ovation and almost instantly starting the first of many mosh pits of the night. Fans throwing their hands, running and dancing expressing their enjoyment in any way possible was an entertaining thing to witness. Koyo are a five piece American melodic hardore band that have been growing in the hardcore scene since 2020.
One thing to note about their performance was their drummer Tom Higham, his drumming is mesmerizing and truly elevates the sound of their music, especially live. Throughout their set the crowd grew and grew with more fans joining in moshing and jumping with the band. Their energy was enough to get even those at the back of the theatre head banging along.
Finally the lights went down one last time, by this point the theatre was jam packed with every fan shoulder to shoulder, the deafening cheers of the fans were something to behold. The four piece American pop-punk band stormed onto the stage to a darude sandstorm remix intro breaking straight into their first song ‘aftermath/afterthought’.
You could instantly feel the heat rise in the room as even bigger mosh pits began to open up and every fan in the room was jumping, headbanging and screaming the lyrics with the band. Fans varied in age and gender all came together to experience this band live, some of them newer fans, some of them having listened to Four Years Strong their entire lives but all enjoying it just the same.
As the band continued to play hits like ‘Get Out of My head’ and ‘It Must Really Suck to Be Four Year Strong Right Now’ with fans finishing lyrics for them and clapping along with no issues, it was clear this is a crowd that is very familiar with the music. When vocalists and guitarists Dan O'Connor and Alan Day spoke to the crowd they got huge responses and even when asking if anyone was at the show in 2017 there was a surprising response, it's great to see such a dedicated fanbase!
As they finally wrapped up their set with their biggest hits ‘We All Float Down Here’ and ‘Wasting Time (Eternal Summer)’ the audience didn't lose an ounce of energy carrying on with circle pits, crowdsurfing and monumental headbanging. But of course as everything does, the show eventually came to a close, fans wiping their sweat and reaching for water - or beer if they preferred.
It's fair to say this show was a night that will stay in the hearts of these fans for years to come. Four Year Strong have quite the year set up with a freshly released album, this tour and an incredible summer lined up as they've joined the 2025 Warped tour 30 years line up! We can only hope that Four Year Strong and their opening acts will return to the UK to bring us even more incredible shows.
Words: Amy Smyth
Photos: Nik Bryant
Yorumlar