Hawthorne Heights’ highly anticipated 20 Years of Tears Tour trekked into Paper Tiger on Tuesday, and despite oppressive heat and pouring rain, the night made clear the strong connection the band has with its San Antonio audience.
The stacked emo bill started with acoustic duo This Wild Life and moved on to the screamo purveyors Emery. However, it was Georgia-based pop-punk band Cartel that truly energized the crowd with tunes that seemed like they could have been drawn straight from an early-2000s teen movie.
Florida’s Anberlin were next to take the stage and got the crowd head-banging with a heavy take on alt-rock. Replacement vocalist Matty Mullins from Memphis May Fire capably handled frontman duties.
Post-hardcore legends Thursday were greeted by enthusiastic applause as they took the stage. The New Jersey group delivered a hard-hitting set that drew on classic tracks about car crashes and inner reflection. Alongside the fan favorites, Thursday also performed “Application for Release from the Dream,” its first new single in 13 years.
Hawthorne Heights finished off the evening by playing its 20-year-old debut album, The Silence in Black and White, in full. The Dayton, Ohio-based quintet performed the track list in order, but the energy peaked when fan favorites including “Nikki FM” and “Silver Bullet” made their appearance.
Hawthorne strayed from the album twice, including a run-through of the recent single, “Golden Econoline,” which also honors former guitarist Casey Calvert, who died in 2007. Vocalist JT Woodruff stepped down from the stage and took a moment to include the crowd in memorializing other departed friends and family members.
Throughout the set, Woodruff praised the band’s Alamo City fans for providing love and support over the past 20 years. At one point, he stood on the railing along the stage to get closer and connect with the crowd below.
After Woodruff acknowledged that Hawthorne had no clue just how massive its signature song “Ohio is For Lovers” would get, the band closed with the anthem. As could be expected, audience members screamed their broken hearts out.
Hawthorne sounded just as it did when The Silence in Black and White dropped two decades ago — nasally vocals, catchy guitar melodies and all. If anyone doubted the group’s status as emo titans, all they needed to do was check the decibel level of the Paper Tiger crowd singing along to the chorus of “Ohio.”
