The Story So Far’s “I Want To Disappear” Tour Rocked Orlando’s Hard Rock Live
Words by Emily Tonnessen - See the Photo Gallery Here
Written 12/6/24 for Dual Muse Magazine
The Story So Far, an anchor for the emo community, are currently finishing their nationwide tour, promoting their latest album release, “I Want To Disappear.”
The show was packed with heavy guitar riffs and chest-pounding bass from openers Koyo and Superheaven, all the way through The Story So Far’s set. On December 4th, the Hard Rock Live in Orlando got to experience this perfect lineup.
Koyo, a heavy rock five piece band from Long Island, opened the show and immediately brought the energy and the crowd surfers alive. Their sound definitely fit in nicely on this tour because it mirrored much of The Story So Far’s older hardcore discography.
Next up was Superheaven, a shoegaze noise band out of Central Pennsylvania, who have recently taken social media by storm with their hit track “Youngest Daughter.” The crowd erupted as the first riff was played. Superheaven expertly blends heaviness with sultry emo and rock and roll. Their long intros and outros were super vibey and similar to The Story So Far’s newer albums “Proper Dose” and “I Want To Disappear.” Lastly, Superheaven’s live shows are unique because they have two singers with a wide vocal range who stand on either end of the stage, while their bassist takes center stage and leads the audience through their extensive instrumentals.
As 9:35 rolled around, The Story So Far hit the stage, beginning with “Big Blind,” a single off their latest album. Followed by classic hits from their 2011-2015 releases.
Something interesting about this band is they have slowly evolved their style over the years, since their conception in 2011. The Story So Far planted their roots in the heavy rock/ emo community, touring worldwide for years playing angry, punk music. However, as they’ve matured, they started blending indie rock into their sound, first on the “Proper Dose” (2020) album, and now all of their releases follow the formula of twinkly indie rock, which is quite the jump.
The reason for this drastic change is simple: the band grew up. Lead vocalist and writer, Parker Cannon is notoriously known for his stage presence in the early days of his career. Circa- 2018 he was known for literally kung fu kicking stage divers and inciting mosh pits. He was a creature of disdain and hatred which reflected itself into his writing. But now, in his thirties not only has he transformed his writing to be more sincere and heartfelt, but he has also grown into a figure of respect for the emo community where he began. Also while embracing the new indie rock fans in the crowd.
Parker Cannon’s life is detailed through his music. It is evident the man has been through a lot of loss, yet instead of taking the angry route, he’s now producing beautiful music to narrate what happened, how and why he’s changed.
The Story So Far split their live set pretty evenly between their older and newer sound, which the crowd greatly appreciated. He allows his crowds to continue with the old ways of moshing and crowd surfing, however he no longer participates. Instead, he just stands still and focuses on hitting every note and every line with eloquence, so the words resonate with those listening. Cannon’s new performance style, although some might call it boring, is exactly what his career has progressed to. He no longer needs to be the hype man making the crowd fight each other because his words have held power with those who listen and they for sure lead the crowd with the energy he no longer has.
As the night continued, they played “Watch You Go” and “Letterman,” two more tracks off their latest indie rock-leaning album. And as expected, Parker stood still. However, he has kept one element of his live show consistent since 2011, he always thanks the crowd after every song by clapping for us. The respect he has for the community he helped solidify is evident in times like these when he follows a gut-wrenching song about heartbreak with a kind and chirpy “Thank you.”
They closed out the show with “Nerve” from their 2015 self-titled album; another hit that had the crowd moving. As they exited the stage, Parker stated “Remember, we’re just a band, we’re all human,” which left the crowd questioning the reason why he said this. Why did he say that? As the house lights went up, the crowd stayed put and chanted for one more song, which we all knew was coming.
It seemed like as soon as he took maybe one sip of water, he walked right back out and began the true end of the night, “Quicksand,” an upbeat, party song meant to leave the crowd buzzing at the end of the winding road that is a The Story So Far show in 2024.
I guess it really is “all love now.”