The OFFICIAL Album Release Show for EVER AFTER by Action/Adventure

Photojournalist: Carrie Bergan

I was at The Salt Shed in Chicago on January 9th seeing State Champs and I happened to run into Brompton Jackson, who leaked to me their next hometown show, which was not yet announced. Brompton Jackson is a guitarist/vocalist in Chicago-local pop-punk band Action/Adventure. I feel like I’ve repeated this story to so many people that it’s just deja vu. This was going to be a good show, so I knew I had to be there. All I knew was the date and venue it’d be at — March 13th at the Bottom Lounge — he did not tell me who the openers were. 

It wasn’t until nearly three weeks after that the band FINALLY announced the show with all the details. Boy, did I really lose my mind at the lineup because the openers were Meet Me @ The Altar, Rarity, and Rematch. It was definitely going to be a killer night of music. You should make sure to give every band a listen because I love them all so much and they’re amazing. 

The show was also meant to be the official release show for the album they released back in October titled, Ever After. Obviously that meant it was going to be special. I was expecting a full album play through along with some favorites and maybe songs from their vault. Either way, it was definitely going to be a phenomenal night of music and I needed to photograph it. I had seen every band on the lineup at least once and photographed three out of the four bands. Meet Me @ The Altar has slipped through my fingers a couple times already so I wasn’t missing my chance this time even if the members have changed a bit since. 

Rematch was the first to take stage and, like Action/Adventure, they’re from the Chicago area. This band knows how to own the room, as I’ve seen them and their vocalist Matty LeGrand do so many times. LeGrand is in another band named RISK, who you should also check out. They’re both such fun groups to see perform live. Every band member came out kicking and ready for a high energy night. Even being the first to play and most of the room not knowing who they were, there was massive love shown to the group. 

Rarity was second, and they came from the far away land of Canada. I have seen this group live only one other time, but they left a good impression. I was excited to see them again. A few friends in the crowd that night told me this was the only band they weren’t super familiar with but enjoyed their set immensely. When they came out to play, a girl ran out with a sign saying their name and the background sound was like bells before the start of a wrestling match. It got a reaction from the crowd of excitement and maybe a little confusion because what? I thought they crushed it and the energy in the audience continued to grow.

Meet Me @ The Altar was the last opener to come out. A bit ago, Téa Campbell left the band and they went from a three-piece to a duo act. My heart was saddened by this, and not getting a chance to photograph the original lineup for this band was not as fulfilling. Even down a member and having fill-ins on stage, this group gave a 110% act for the crowd. Vocalist and frontwoman Edith Victoria came out like a firecracker with her brightly neon-colored braids headbanging for every song. She knows how to make her presence known and it was felt. 

Since this group is known for being an all-woman band, one of my favorite parts seeing them live is when they call for the all-girl pit. If you identify as a girl and have always wanted to mosh but are worried about the big men, then this was your moment, your chance. It’s always a fun mosh pit to watch seeing all the girls join in on the moshing fun. 

I also love the mash-up cover medley of “Sweetness” by Jimmy Eat World, “My Friends Over You” by New Found Glory, and “My Own Worst Enemy” by Lit — it’s always a nice surprise when artists still cover other artists' music, at least I think so. Especially if you don’t know the band playing, then automatically the room can sing along with them. I’m a sucker for a good cover. 

The entire room then went dark and erupted in cheers, everyone knew that it was time for the headliner to get the room moving. Backlights flashed as they took the stage one by one and the music kicked in — but then there were technical difficulties which resulted in not one but two restarts of the intro. Third time’s the charm and the entire place was shaking from the amount of energy. 

The first crowd surfer made it over the barricade and not long after that there were more. Before they started, I glanced at the setlist on stage and it was not a straight play through of the album, which was surprising as that’s what I was prepared for. They threw in older songs that hadn’t been played in a while and even bought some special guests on stage for a couple songs. 

The first guest on stage was expected and showed up for his collaboration in the song “Something Isn’t Right Here,” it was none other than Dan Lambton. He was the original frontman for pop-punk band, Real Friends. I was ecstatic to catch this song performed live, especially because Real Friends has always been my favorite band to see, especially back then when Lambton was frontman. He even was in the photo pit for a couple bands and I was not prepared for that amount of interaction with this iconic man. It was surreal to see and it did not last long enough for me to really process it. I need them to perform it again for me, please and thanks. This song is arguably, in my opinion, the best song off the album but I’m also very biased with the feature.

They have another song titled, “Go Directly To Jail. Do Not Pass Go. Do Not Collect $200” which actually features NOAHFINNCE. However, he was not there that night so the band brought out Edith Victoria from Meet Me @ The Altar and this was an unreal moment. It’s not recorded anywhere you can find on streaming platforms so this was only for that one night. I loved it.

Now the band announced they had three songs left and they weren’t going to do the encore joke of leaving the stage, except vocalist Blake Evaristo joked about how they’re getting old so he needs a bathroom break. So they played their “last song” and walked off stage for a very brief intermission and then came back to close out the night. 

They played a whole twenty five minutes longer than I was physically prepared for but it was all worth it. Here’s to Ever After and Action/Adventure. I cannot wait to see where else this group goes. 

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ACTION/ADVENTURE

MEET ME @ THE ALTER

RARITY

REMATCH