LIVE REVIEW: Silverstein at The Fillmore in Silver Spring, MD on November 29th, 2023

Photos and Review by: Jamie LeBlanc

Author’s Instagram: 3Bears_and_acat

Lineup: Silverstein, Stray From the Path, Avoid

Date: November 29th, 2023

Location: The Fillmore Silver Spring MD

With many artists finding success in the “Playing our album in its entirety” tours, Silverstein took themselves back on tour for the 22nd year! Celebrating 10 years since releasing This is How the Wind Shifts, the boys from Canada decided to put on a FULL show which would include the entire album, some greatest hits, and live fan voting for songs. One thing that has allowed Silverstein to thrive this long, is their ability to change with the times. Doing this better then many, they have been able to save their sound, while constantly adapting to the way consumers consume music. They have been on Meta, Instagram, Tik Tok, and even invite fans into live writing sessions! Starting our night off was Avoid!

Avoid, being relatively new to the DC rock scene, gave the early concert goers something to mosh with to kick off our evening. The 5 member band is best known for brining a fun, experimental, hedonistic approach to rock music. This is something we saw often attempted but never perfected in the early 2000s. Avoid has seemed to really found their niche, being featured on Sirius XM Octane, and having a song played during Nascar broadcasts. Lead singer Benny Scholl really got the crowd going by performing his music in a way that wasn’t only heavy, but fun!

Next up was the veteran hardcore punk band, Stray From the Path! Dropping in from Long Island, NY this band has been putting our records since 2001. For those of you that are new to SFTP, think if Rage against the Machine added some rap to the mix, then sprinkled in some punk. Stray led an energy packed performance that had the photographers in the photo pit scrambling for cover from dozens of crowd surfers in the first 3 songs alone. If there is ever a way to gauge the energy from a rock show, that’s it!

Finally it was time for Silverstein to take the stage and they did not disappoint. Fans were screaming their lungs out for close to 2 hours spanning 25 songs! The fans had quite the experience going through a musical Time Machine with all of their hits but one moment in general sparked fan elation that was so loud, you could feel the reverb. In a performance that would have made Chester proud, Silverstein performed Linkin Park’s legendary track “One Step Closer”. With an encore that lasted not one, not two, but 4 songs, the fans defiantly got their money worth.