Hardcore punk fans get their money’s worth during the Stick To Your Guns European tour, as they brought along not one or two, but three support acts. At the end of 2023, they were performing in Utrecht as well, to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Diamond and are back a little over a year later to celebrate their latest release with Keep Planting Flowers.
Even though the evening started fairly early this Sunday in the Netherlands, the venue was already pretty packed for No Cure, the first band of the evening. The crowd gets properly warmed up, to the point where you can see the first cartwheels in the pit. Following up is Elwood Stray, a band from Germany, who wants to break the stagediving/crowdsurfing record of 41 during their set tonight, and they more than succeed in breaking it. By each passing band, the crowd doesn’t seem to be able to get tired, as they bring even more energy for the third band Bodysnatcher. There’s a lot to be said for the need to blow off steam and find an escape in music, and so far each band has been up for the challenge.
Finally, it’s time for the headliners of the evening and the tension is palpable in the crowd. The second they take their place on stage, it feels like everyone on the floor had not even been moving for the other acts, with the way they respond to the OC natives. There’s this feeling of camaraderie on the floor, everyone here is looking for the same release, an evening to put everything else aside and just let the music lead, whether its in a circle pit, through two-stepping or with stagediving. Everyone here tonight understands the feeling of looking for a place to belong, and Stick To Your Guns is excellent in offering that place.
Frontman Jesse Barnett is not one to shy away from making a statement, wearing an All Power Free Clinic shirt and Free Palestine bracelet. Their Los Angeles home has been dealing with wildfires for the last weeks, and he reflects on it a little during their set. He shares he has a lot of gratitude for getting to do this in life, getting to have a connection with so many people. All of this to say, from an outsider’s perspective one might think there’s a lot of heavy hardcore noise at a concert like this, but one might argue the noise outside of the doors is louder and inside of these doors, there’s an escape from it. Their new record “Keep Planting Flowers” emphasizes the idea that you have to keep going even through the hardships, keep trying to put better into the world in spite of the noise around.
The evening started really early, but somehow the night was over in a heartbeat. Whether you can’t get enough or have yet to see them, there’s still time to catch Stick To Your Guns on the remainder of their European tour, including stops in Paris, Madrid and Lisbon, ending in Berlin on February 9th.
GALLERY: Stick To Your Guns, Bodysnatcher, Elwood Stray, + No Cure at Tivoli in Utrecht (January 19, 2025)
