Live Review: Chiodos at Webster Hall (2025/04/28)

All's Well That Ends Well 20th Anniversary Tour

Ticket Price: $56.81

This show was a letdown, and I had an odd feeling about it all day leading up. I had even considered putting my ticket up for sale because I wasn't feeling it but decided to go anyway. The fact that I only wanted to see the headliner out of the four bands playing was a major element, but I also started realizing that I wasn't that big of a fan of Chiodos as I may have thought. They had a brief stint with another vocalist of a different band that I was quite fond of in high school, and the album they made with him is an incredible piece of work. I think I over-indexed on that album when I saw the tour announced, plus the fact that the tickets sold out so quickly they announced a second show. I failed to realize this wasn't the same band.

After disbanding in 2016, the current lineup is their original frontman, Craig Owens, and a bunch of fill-ins. Not a huge deal, but still not the same as a reunion tour. This wasn't even the thing that killed the show for me though. The music was fine and the show enjoyable, especially seeing a bunch of people experiencing major nostalgia after thinking they would never get to see this band play again. It was clearly all about Craig though. I sort of expect professional musicians to be a bit arrogant, lead singers even more so, but his demeanor on stage was off-putting to say the least.

The final moment of the evening, or I should say sequence of events, ultimately made me never want to listen to their music again. During the last song of the first half of their set, someone from the back of the crowd threw a plastic cup of beer towards the stage, which landed near the feet of the vocalist. I don't know if it actually hit him, but he was rightfully annoyed and kicked the cup off the stage after passive-aggressively laughing it off during the song. Once the song was over is when he showed his true colors though. Paraphrasing what he said as best I can remember:

“Who threw that beer? Did anyone see who threw that beer? Point them out! Point them out! Who wants to get their fuckin teeth knocked out? That’s what I thought… pussy!” Drops mic and walks off stage.

I honestly didn't even think they were going to come back out after that tirade, but they did, and the guitarist continued the shit talking, threatening to fight them outside after the show. Still having no clue who they were even mad at. They played their next song and the singer had a bit more fire in his performance, which I initially thought was a good way to channel his anger, but after the song was over, he looked at the band signaling to cut the set short. They were supposed to play a total of five additional songs in the second half of their set but only played two before petulantly storming off the stage to finally end the night. At that point, I was over it and ready to go home.

The old saying "it only takes one person to ruin it for everyone" couldn't have been more true here, and I mostly felt bad for the hundreds of fans that were singing at the top of their lungs and going crazy in the pit all night.

Cheers and keep rocking!