State Champs Prove They are the Kings of the New Age

State Champs brought their King of the New Age tour to The Plaza Live in Orlando on 12/2. The 21-city tour started on November 11th in Cleveland, OH and concluded in the band’s hometown of Albany, NY on December 10^th. Supporting the tour were Hunny and Between You & Me as well as Save Face who opened the last of the week.

The tour was supporting the band’s fourth studio album, King of the New Age which was released earlier this year in May. My review at the time called it “the best pop punk album of 2022 so far”. The year is coming to a close and this statement still holds. KOTNA included guest appearances by Ben Barlow (Neck Deep), Chrissy Costanza (Against The Current), country pop singer Mitchell Tenpenny, and pop punk band Four Year Strong and was filled with catchy summer car cruising tunes like “Everybody but You” and “Outta My Head”.

Anyone that has read some of my previous articles knows that pop punk is by far my favorite musical genre. Earlier in the year I was all set to cover the Sum 41 / Simple Plan, but unfortunately Covid-19 had other plans for me causing me to miss the show. When the opportunity arose to cover State Champ’s Orlando show, I was all in. The 464-mile drive from Pensacola was my longest of the year to cover a show barely surpassing My Chemical Romance’s concert in Nashville.

After spending the whole day driving, I reached The Plaza Live towards the end of Save Face‘s set so I can’t provide much feedback. However, I did manage to grab a couple of shots from the crowd.

The next band Between You & Me totally caught me off-guard. The Australian band put on a crazy performance. Lead singer Jake Wilson spent more time in the air than on the ground. Concert photographers live for moments like this. Wilson reminded me of Benny Scholl from Avoid who I covered earlier in the year. There was a no crowd surfing or moshing policy in place for the night which prevented things from getting really wild.

After an energetic performance by Bunny, State Champs took the stage at 9:30 PM. Derek DiScanio walked out waving a towel in the air to cheers from the crowd with one holding a “Ryan mother f*cking Scott mother f*cking Graham” sign. Being raised in SW Michigan, I was stoked when I noticed DiScanio was wearing a Detroit Tigers jacket. The band started off with “Just Sounds” from KOTNA with fans screaming the lyrics right from the start.

The night was loaded with several other songs from KOTNA including “Everybody But You”, “Outta My Head”, “Fake It”, and “Act Like That”. However, the band managed to squeeze in plenty of their older material. As DiScanio said “Can’t only play the new stuff…we have to dive back and play some old shit”. This brought shouts of “I love you” and “you guys are f*cking killing it”. They proceeded to launch into a medley comprised of “Deadly Conversation”, “Hurry Up and Wait”, “Losing Myself”, “All or Nothing”, and “Breaking Ground”.

DiScanio proved that he is more than just a singer by pulling out an acoustic guitar and serenading the crowd with a solo performance of “If I’m Lucky” while the rest of the band left the stage for a short break. He continued on guitar when other members came back on stage for “Our Time Go”. They closed out the set with “Secrets” followed by a one song encore, “Everybody But You”.

Whenever I see a band perform for the first time, I always wonder if they will disappoint by not being able to create their sound live. However, that fear was laid to rest as State Champs did not disappoint. Their live performance was as good as if not better than their recordings. It was one of the best live performances I witnessed in 2022. DiScanio and the rest of the band energized the audience the whole show. Fans of band can listen to Kings of the New Age here.

State Champs Setlist:

Just Sound
Mine Is Gold
Eventually
Outta My Head
Criminal
Sundress
Frozen
Elevated
Half Empty
Crying Out Loud
If I’m Lucky
Our Time to Go
Fake It
All You Are Is History
Act Like That
Deadly Conversation / Hurry Up and Wait / Losing Myself / All or Nothing / Breaking Ground
Secrets
Everybody But You