LIVE: SILVERSTEIN – Orlando, FL, USA – December 12, 2025

Venue: House of Blues

City: Orlando, FL

Date: December 12, 2025

Review and Photographs by: James Zambon (https://jameszambon.com)

I set out on the trek across Florida Friday afternoon to catch Silverstein at the House of Blues Orlando for their 25 Years of Noise tour, and if you’ve ever driven through central Florida, you already know the gamble that is I-4. It can either feel like an unsanctioned, Mad Max-style Fury Road, or a full-on parking lot. Unfortunately, Friday’s version leaned hard into the latter. Nearly four hours of creeping along in traffic had me questioning my life choices, but the promise of some hardcore music and a sold-out house of fellow hardcore kids kept me pointed east. By the time I finally rolled into the venue, I had just missed Bloom’s set — a bummer — but Free Throw were already gearing up and wasted absolutely no time resetting my mood. From the jump, they brought solid stage presence and infectious energy, quickly shaking off every ounce of frustration that traffic had soured me with. They riled the pit up, crowd surfers started their inevitable migration to the stage barrier, and the room immediately felt alive. There’s something special about a band that can grab a room like that early in the night, and Free Throw did exactly what a good opener should do: wake everyone up and pull them in.

I grabbed a beer from the always-friendly House of Blues bartenders and took a moment to decompress, watching the crowd swell and the energy build. One of the things I’ve always appreciated about this venue is how personal it can feel — even on a packed night, there’s still that sense of shared experience, like everyone in the room knows they’re about to get something good. Next up was Thursday, a band I’d heard about over the years but somehow never got around to seeing them live (to be fair there were a couple of band breakups and re-kindlings over the years). I also hadn’t realized they had newer material until I saw them listed on this tour, which honestly made their set even more of a surprise. They were fantastic. Tight, emotional, and heavy in a way that feels earned rather than forced. Guitarist Steve Pedulla’s description of the band as melodic hardcore is spot-on — it’s aggressive without being chaotic, emotional without being overdone, and absolutely right up my alley. I could have easily watched them play all night, but we were all there for the main event.

When Silverstein finally took the stage, the room went dark and the screens lit up with video clips spanning their 25-year history. It was a great touch — a wave of nostalgia for longtime fans who remember seeing them in much smaller rooms, including early Orlando shows at places like Will’s Pub. It felt less like a gimmick and more like a thank-you to the fans who’ve been riding with them for decades. The band came out swinging, opening with “Negative Space,” and the energy in the room instantly spiked. Shane Told was in full command from the first note, exuding confidence and feeding off the crowd’s enthusiasm. By the second song, “Drain the Blood,” things were already getting chaotic — I had a crowd surfer come down right on top of me in the photo pit just minutes into the set, which felt like a pretty good indicator of how the night was going to go. Silverstein kept the momentum high throughout the evening, moving effortlessly through a set that balanced newer material with fan favorites. One of the standout moments came when Told paused to wish a woman in the front row a happy birthday — her sign proudly reading, “I’m happy to spend my birthday with Silverstein!” Moments like that are what make live shows special. To ramp things back up heading into the encore, Told delivered a stripped-down acoustic version of “My Heroine,” before the band tore into “Smashed Into Pieces,” sending the crowd into one final frenzy. The House of Blues Orlando proved once again why it’s such a great room for shows like this. Every band on the bill played to the venue’s strengths, and the crowd gave that energy right back all night long. As a bonus, the drive home was a completely reasonable 85 minutes — a small victory after the earlier traffic nightmare. All told, it was absolutely worth the journey, and a reminder that sometimes you just have to survive I-4 to get to the good stuff.

Setlist: Negative Space – Drain the Blood – The Altar – Stress – Infinite – Bad Habits – The Afterglow – Je me souviens – Massachusetts – You Gotta Stay Positive – The Artist – Vices – The End – Worlds Apart – Your Sword Versus My Dagger – Already Dead – Smile in Your Sleep – My Heroine – Smashed Into Pieces – Bleeds No More

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Category: Live Reviews, Photo Galleries