Silverstein

Silverstein were celebrating 25 years of noise, but on Wednesday night in Austin, the Toronto veterans were sharing the stage with a lineup that framed the genre’s past, present, and future in real time. The final leg of their 25 Years of Noisetour paired them with Thursday, Free Throw, and Australian upstarts Bloom, transforming what could have been a straightforward anniversary victory lap into a multi-generational survey of post-hardcore’s evolving shape.

Austin had been notably absent from the tour’s earlier legs, a point vocalist Shane Told acknowledged from the stage while reflecting on the band’s early DIY runs through Texas. He referenced formative shows at the original Emo’s, grounding the night’s spectacle in the kind of rooms where Silverstein first earned their stripes. The band may be long removed from those relentless touring cycles, but the spirit behind them still hovered over the evening.

Bloom opened the show after traveling from Australia, bringing the heaviest sound on the bill. Their set was tightly packed and unflinching, delivered with the urgency of a band intent on making their moment count. There was no attempt to ease into the room—Bloom played like a group determined to leave an impression.

Free Throw followed, and for a noticeable portion of the crowd, they were the emotional center of the night. The Nashville-based band represented the more intimate, lyric-driven side of the genre, connecting immediately through sincerity rather than volume. Frontman Cory Castro wore a Thursday shirt, a quiet acknowledgment of the lineage on display. With over a decade of steady touring and releases behind them, Free Throw embodied the DIY ethos that continues to sustain emo at the grassroots level.

Thursday’s appearance carried its own weight. Leaning heavily on the material that helped define the early-2000s post-hardcore boom, Geoff Rickly used the stage to reaffirm the band’s values before opening with “Signals Over the Air.” The crowd’s response was instant and deeply familiar. Songs like “Understanding in a Car Crash” and “War All the Time” didn’t function as nostalgia so much as reminders of why Thursday remain one of the genre’s most essential voices. In many ways, they served as the connective tissue of the night, linking Silverstein’s origins to the newer bands carrying the torch forward.

Silverstein took the stage following a brief video montage tracing their early years, with Told narrating clips of basement shows and Myspace-era snapshots with self-aware humor. The set unfolded in reverse chronology, beginning with newer material and steadily moving backward through the catalog. Opening with “Negative Space” and “Drain the Blood” showcased how refined the band’s modern sound has become, while tracks like “Bad Habits” and “Infinite” demonstrated how naturally the newer songs coexist with longtime favorites.

One of the night’s most effective moments arrived unexpectedly: a fleeting nod to My Chemical Romance’s “Helena,” played just long enough to trigger collective recognition before vanishing. It worked less as fan service than as a timestamp—a shared cultural reference point for the era that shaped much of the room.

The closing stretch leaned fully into Silverstein’s earliest work. “Already Dead” and “Smile in Your Sleep” landed with renewed force, followed by an encore that opened with an acoustic “My Heroine.” Nothing felt padded or excessive. Each song served a clear purpose, completing the band’s story in reverse.

By the end of the night, the bill avoided the bloat that often accompanies anniversary tours. The sounds varied, but the core ethos remained consistent. Silverstein may be marking the end of a chapter, but the evening made clear that post-hardcore’s future is broader, more global, and still very much alive.

Words and photos: Victor Gonzalez