Here’s what went down at the APMAs Fan Day

The last three days have been big deal for our music scene in Cleveland, Ohio. With The Alternative Press Music Awards being on Monday, July 17th and Warped Tour following right behind it on July 18th, you would think that would be enough to keep fans satisfied.

Alternative Press then decided to host The APMAs Fan Day at The Rock N’ Roll Hall Of Fame featuring a LGBTQ music panel with Laura Jane Grace of Against Me, Mina Caputo of Life Of Agony and Lynn Gunn of Pvris. Laura Jane Grace also did a bonus book signing after the panel.

This day also included live performances from Carousel Kings, Sleep On It, Colours, Broadside and State Champs. The whole day was free, which was a genius idea considering how much money you had to pay to get into the APMAs.

The day started with the LGBTQ panel inside the Rock Hall, where fans got the chance to ask Laura Jane Grace, Mina Caputo and Lynn Gunn questions. Most of the questions related to their experiences with LGBTQ and being in the music scene.

A little later during the day is when the bands started to play. First to hit the stage was Carousel Kings. Their set was so energetic and just down right awesome. This is a band with a bright future and their fan base will be growing in no time.

Next came Sleep On It. They did well performance wise. They were full of energy even if most of the crowd was only bobbing their heads to the music. Their songs were ever-catchy and kept you entertained. Although they played their heart out, it still felt like a wow factor was missing. They’re a band that if their song came up next while listening to Spotify, you wouldn’t necessarily skip the tune, but you probably wouldn’t specifically look for it.

Colours followed up Sleep On It. I’m sure they’re good to someone, but not me. They were very different from the other bands on the bill, with only a vocalist, Kyle Tamo and a drummer, Morgan Alley. To me, every song sounded exactly the same. It was incredibly boring; however, Colours didn’t sound like any of the other bands that were there, so props to hearing something new and refreshingly unique, but this set just seemed to drag on.

Broadside followed, and can I say, lead vocalist Ollie Baxxter has an incredible vocal range. The whole band played extremely well. They played songs that were bangers like “Paradise,” “Playing In Traffic” and “Coffee Talk.” Fans lost their ever-loving minds trying to mosh which resulted in security having to break it up. It seemed as if security were not prepared for how rowdy concertgoers can get at shows like these. Despite that distraction, Broadside played through it with more passion than they began with.

Finally came State Champs who played a full set! This was surprising to me since the show was free; I had a feeling it might just be 6 songs. The boys came out swinging with “Slow Burn” and other tracks like “Elevated” and “Simple Existence.” As they continued to play, the crowd kept getting more and more amped which lead to moshing and crowd surfing. It got so wild to the point where the security guards were either getting hurt or annoyed showing even more that the Rock Hall Security were definitely not prepared.

During “Shape Up,” mid-song, State Champs got shut off. The crowd continued belting out the chorus as they tried to figure out what was going on. Eventually their mics came back on with bass player/vocalist Ryan Scott Graham seeming super irritated saying “we have to play by the rules.” Lead vocalist Derek DiScanio then instructed everyone to step back and make some room as it seemed like the guards were getting crushed by the crowd who was too damn excited to calm down which resulted in the sound being cut.

The set would then carry on and finishing out with songs “Perfect Score,” “All You Are Is History” and closing with fan-favorite “Secrets.” All in all it was definitely a great show. The best part was that it was even free which was such a cool thing for Alternative Press to do and an even cooler thing for them to have put together.

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