Catch The Wonder Years & Motion City Soundtrack w/ State Champs & You Blew It! | TONIGHT @ Cannery Ballroom

Returning to Nashville for the first time in several years, beloved, uncompromising pop punk group The Wonder Years are set to co-headline with scene favorites Motion City Soundtrack, both in support of stellar new albums, tonight, Nov. 16 at Cannery Ballroom! Rounded out by buzzworthy up and comers State Champs and emo outfit You Blew It!, this all ages event is a wonderful way to kick of your last week before the holidays hit high gear. Grab your tickets here and read on for details!

THE WONDER YEARS

Despite constant tours and a pretty steady clip of record releases, Pennsylvania’s The Wonder Years haven’t made their way to Music City in three and a half years, meaning Nashville fans haven’t had a chance to see the group play songs from 2013’s pivotal The Greatest Generation or this year’s mature, transcendent No Closer to Heaven. A decade in, the group are perhaps the perfect flag-bearers for revivalist pop punk, a break from the mainstream decadence the scene spawned following the mega-success of acts in the early and mid-00s, all the while enabling bands like The Wonder Years and their numerous peers to use the underground style and aesthetic that made the sound so worthwhile to start, and leverage that to make music in a more earnest, heartfelt, and organic way. Over five full-lengths, the band have matured from more melodic hardcore and pop punk leaning influences to incorporate broader alternative rock and emo, enhanced by the intellectual, personal, and conceptual lyrical prowess and unparalleled frontman Dan “Soupy” Campbell. They’re the thinking man’s pop punk band, the prime example of how the scene can grow up with its fans, and their live show has every ounce of passion and bite found on their fantastic albums.

MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK

While Motion City Soundtrack already passed through town once this year, it was in celebration of their 2005 breakout effort, Commit This to Memory. A fun an necessary nostalgic outing, it allowed the band and their fans to send off a great chapter of their past, and cleared the way to focus on the future. That future is Panic Stations, the group’s long-awaited new album, and best in years. Though poppier, and, these days, more indie rock leaning than The Wonder Years, Motion City Soundtrack share a penchant for personal, uncompromisingly honest songwriting, and a gimmick-free approach to pop punk. Over 15 years into their existence, the band are beloved by the scene, a polished live powerhouse, and as relevant as they’ve ever been musically.

STATE CHAMPS

In just a few short years, breakout New York group State Champs have already cemented their status and pop punk’s rising heir apparent. Exploding onto the scene with their buzzworthy 2013 LP The Finer Things, the young band soon found themselves supporting popular acts like Bayside and We Are the In Crowd, wound up on Warped Tour, and, incredibly, supported mega-famous pop punk boyband 5 Seconds of Summer for a stint of shows overseas. Proving truly here to stay, State Champs dropped an even better, more mature followup album, Around the World and Back, just last month and with no signs of slowing down in sight, seem poised to become one of the biggest bands in the scene throughout the next couple of years.

YOU BLEW IT!

Drawing more from the nostalgic ’90s emo and mathy indie rock scene, but still retaining some contemporary pop punk sensibilities, Florida’s You Blew It! round out a bill which largely represents a great spread of styles old and new. With two criminally underrated full-lengths under their belt, the band, like similar sounding peers Into It. Over It. and The World Is a Beautiful Place… seem poised to receive due recognition as an important part of this new wave of classic emo-inspiured new acts, who are adding authenticity to a scene that momentarily lost its way. Be sure to show up early to see them!

The Wonder Years, Motion City Soundtrack, State Champs, and You Blew It will perform tonight, Nov. 16 at Cannery Ballroom. The show is all ages, begins at 7 p.m. (doors at 6 p.m.), and tickets are available for $25.