When the Vans Warped Tour ended, summer tour schedules opened up for a lot of bands. Bands could either play other festivals throughout the Summer or put together an epic tour package and tour with their friends. The latter may seem more enticing not just for the bands, but also for the fans. This is why we are starting to see more and more bands doing a 4-5 band tour throughout the Summer that features a lineup that fans are overly excited for that they will be there when doors open and close no matter what. The Wet Hot All-American Summer Tour headlined by The All-American Rejects is one of those tours, and with the openers New Found Glory, Motion City Soundtrack, The Get Up Kids, and The Starting Line on select dates, this tour is every emo, pop-punk, and pop-rock fans’ dream tour.

The most influential band on the entire tour opened the show which was The Get Up Kids. Even though every band on this tour will say they have been listening to the Get Up Kids before their own band was formed and should be headlining, I think the Get Up Kids enjoyed opening the show. They didn’t have any stage lights or smoke machines, just their classic logo as a banner and a greatest hits setlist. Even though opening a show can draw the least amount of people the AMP already had plenty of fans in the venue, especially loyal Get Up Kids fans. Should be noted that Get Up Kids formed not even three hours away in Kansas City, MO and their keyboardist is from Fayetteville, AR which you could tell a lot of fans from the beginning were in attendance. Their set hit on every album except for On A Wire or There Are Rules, however based off all the songs played they wanted to keep the set more to the punchy punk sound. Even though they opened the show, they played around 13 songs which was nice to hear since I thought I would only hear around eight songs. Being from the east coast and seeing Get Up Kids roughly once a year, this setlist time was a nice treat since it has been a few years since I’ve seen them.

Following the Get Up Kids was the ever energic Motion City Soundtrack. Even though lead singer Justin Pierre is still recovering from back problems it didn’t stop the band from still putting on a great show. Justin himself still entertained the crowd with his dance moves and hand gestures, he wasn’t going to let the back pain ruin the whole show. Also, fill in guitarist Zach Comtois does an excellent job playing Justin’s parts along with the solos. However, even though Motion City Soundtrack put on a great show they only played around eight songs, but they were all the songs everyone loves to sing along to. “Everything Is Alright” had the crowd singing the chorus in unison along with “The Future Freaks Me Out”. Regardless of a short set, it was wonderful to hear these songs live and with the crowd just as excited and if a longer set is wanted, Motion City Soundtrack will be touring in 2024 playing I Am The Movie in full.

Shifting towards the more pop-punk sound of the tour, New Found Glory came out blazing. The band ripped through a set that was fast, in your face, and featured a lot of bubbles. With Chad Gilbert still battling cancer, Dan O’Connor of Four Year Strong filled in on guitar as did Dave Knox of Real Friends. Both musicians fill in perfectly and add a stage presence to the show just like Chad with the jumps and constant movement. Playing all the fan favorite songs, New Found Glory sprinkled in three cover songs into their set, which having four cover albums out why not make the set even more fun. That is exactly what they did, for when they play “Let It Go” from the movie Frozen, singer Jordan Pundik came out dressed as Elsa and sang the entire song in costume. Also, while this was happening, thousands of bubbles were released making it feel like you were watching a parade on Main Street USA at Disney World. New Found Glory has always perfected the perfect blend of serious and fun as a band and their live shows are the best representation of that.

The All-American Rejects closed out the night with a fun and rambunctious set. Lead singer Tyson Ritter may be the quirkiest frontman out there for he said a lot of interesting comments before songs, like setting the tone for everyone to travel back in time. With sound effects and shaking it makes sense why he started an acting career while All-American Rejects are in their down time. Tyson’s banter and picking people out the crowd to talk to alone is worth the price of admission. The band broke into three songs off their Self-Titled and then from there played a little off their other their albums. They also played “Sweat” which is one of their newer songs, but no comment if there is a new full length or additional singles coming out. The last album All-American Rejects put out was in 2012 and it isn’t seen if they will keep putting out just singles or albums. However, only having four albums and an amazing stage shows, All-American Rejects have a good formula, and it clearly is working for them for fans are still filling in the seats.