Words & Photos by Emily Agnesini

August 18th, 2023 — Blessthefall brought their Ten Year Hollow Bodies tour to Irving Plaza, NYC. To celebrate the ten year anniversary of their fourth released album Hollow Bodies. The band enlisted Dragged Under, Kingdom of Giants, and Caskets as support for this tour.

Setting the tone for the whole night was Dragged Under. Dragged Under originates from Seattle, Washington creating a genre bending fusion of hardcore punk and metalcore driven by smashing breakdowns and sing-along choruses. Dragged Under currently has two official members consisting of Tony Cappocchi (Lead Vocals) and Sean Rosario (Guitarist). Currently touring with them are Chris Namoc (Guitarist) and Dylan Roy (Drummer).

The lights went out and a trap remix of the Law & Order SVU theme song played which got a roaring reaction from the crowd. Cappocchi sprinted on the stage demanding people to crowd surf up to him and scream the lyrics into the microphone. The crowd participation was out of this world as the crowd was jumping, moshing and crowd surfing, rarely giving the security guards a chance to catch their breath.

The last song of the set “Hypochondria” off of their 2020 album “The World Is In Your Way” was when the crowd went from insane to absolute chaos. Tony commanded the moshpit to open up as much as physically possible for the final breakdown. The people in the pit did just that as they unleashed universal mayhem. Dragged Under did not disappoint as the frenzy would follow through into the next set

Dragged Under photos:

Next to take the stage was Kingdom Of Giants, a melodic metalcore band from Sacramento, California whose songs are also heavily driven by crushing breakdowns and melodic choruses. Kingdom Of Giants currently consists of Dana Wilcox (lead vocals), Justin Roebuck-Joseph (bassist/backup vocals), Julian Perez (guitarist), Red Martin (guitarist) and Truman Berlin (drummer).

The energy carried over as crowd surfers were plentiful. Kingdom Of Giants started their set with the song “Burner” from their 2020 album “Passenger”. Wilcox wasted no time getting the energy turned up a notch by jumping off the stage and climbing on the barricade only being held up by security. The front row passionately belted out the lyrics back at Wilcox as even more people crowd surfed up to him.

The band experienced technical difficulties as the sound cut out during the final breakdown of their song “Bleach” also off of “Passenger”. The delay only lasted two minutes, but the crowd uplifted the group by chanting “KING-DOM” repeatedly. Wilcox explained to the crowd that the laptop rattled off its surface and smashed onto the floor. Wilcox credited the crowd's high-powered energy for the incident claiming it’s the first time they’ve ever encountered that. Kingdom Of Giants finished their set and successfully warmed up the crowd for the rest of the evening.

Kingdom of Giants photos:

As we made our way towards the end of the night, the second to last band to perform took the stage, known as Caskets. Caskets is a post hardcore, indie rock band formed in Leeds, United Kingdom back in 2018. This is their second time ever touring in the United States. Members of the band include Matt Flood (vocals), Craig Robinson and Benji Wilson (guitars), Chris McIntosh (bassist), and James Lazenby (drums).They are currently signed through Sharptone Records. Caskets is well known for their melodic, synth-heavy sound with a mix of post-hardcore elements.

To start off their set for the evening, they open their set with "Guiding Light” which came from their latest album titled Reflections released in August 2023. In an instant, the audience was already clapping and lit up the room with their voices as the song progressed. The production and the sound was incredible and was one of the best performances I’ve seen . Flood’s vocals were incredible and you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between his live vocals versus the studio version. Whenever people would crowd surf, most of the members were greeting their fans by holding their hands as they made their way towards the barricade.

Towards the end of their set, the last song they performed is one of their most played songs titled “Glass Hearts”. The fans were roaring and singing along. At some point during that song, everybody in the crowd was singing the chorus louder than the vocalist himself. I hope to see them live again if they come back to the area.

Caskets photos:

Finally the time everybody has been waiting for. Blessthefall makes their triumphant return to the stage after a long four year hiatus. Blessthefall is an Arizona based quartet signed under Rise Records with members including Beau Bokan (vocals), Jared Warth (bassist), Elliott Gruenberg (rhythm guitarist) and lastly Eric Lambert (lead guitarist).

To celebrate the return, they perform the discography of their fourth released album titled Hollow Bodies which was released back in August, 2013. As time grew close to their performance, everybody in the venue was chanting “BLESSTHEFALL” and all started screaming. Immediately the crowd went feral as soon as Exodus started to play; which is the first song featured on the album. The second song they played was “You Wear A Crown But You’re No King” and the crowd did not slow down once it started. The pit opened up wide as soon as the first drop hit. They then transitioned to the title song “Hollow Bodies” and everyone sang along to every single word and the whole venue joined in for the ending chant. The show mellowed out during songs like “See You On The Outside” and “The Sound of Starting Over” the latter of which has never been played live before this tour. Before that song though was the song “Youngbloods” which was one the heaviest songs of the night. The band called for a circle pit during the opening part and it happened almost immediately and then the rest of the song was complete chaos. Tony Cappochi from Dragged Under came out to sing Jesse Barnett’s parts. Closing out the Hollow Bodies part of the set, was the seven-minute ballad “Open Water” which features pop vocalist Lights.

As we make our way to the encore, Bokan asks the crowd “How many more songs should we play?” and the response from the crowd was only pure chaos, then immediately the band transitioned to their latest single “Wake the Dead” which was released back in May 2023. The song itself symbolizes their energetic comeback and hearing it live for the first time was a remarkable experience. I am someone who does not go into a mosh pit, but the energy the crowd gave made me want to step foot into the mosh pit; honestly it was the most fun I’ve had at a concert in a while.

To close out the night, they revisited three songs from their second album “Witness”. The first note of “2.0” was enough for the OG Blessthefall fans to show up in the pit to do their thing and that continued into “What's Left of Me”. They then ended the night with their most popular song “Hey Baby Here’s That Song You Wanted” and everyone was just singing along to it word for word at the top of their lungs and everyone got their last chances to crowd surf throughout the entire song, including myself.