For music lovers, there's an existential fear when the songs they have clung to through various life markers become "old."
"Could what I love ever be deemed 'classic,'" we wonder to ourselves. You never think it will happen to you, but then a couple of tracks end up on a "nostalgic era" playlist on Spotify.
Soon enough, you're reminiscing about the days of MTV, VH1, and music video premieres -- and the younger generation has no clue what you're talking about.
The day we thought was reserved for making fun of our parents comes for us all.
But at Emo Night Brooklyn, crowds of slowly graying millennials -- some now squarely in middle age -- are welcome to gather and celebrate rock's newest oldies, belting out the lyrics to 2000s pop-punk songs they loved from high school and college. The touring event visited White Eagle Hall in Jersey City last Friday.
Though after 10 years of head-banging, Emo Nite is evolving. Many younger Gen-Z fans are now attending as well, spurred by pop-punk's resurgence (since around 2020) and emo-catering festivals like When We Were Young and a soon-to-be-reimagined Warped Tour. These gatherings serve as a gateway for the younger generation to feel the energy of bands like Belleville's My Chemical Romance, Paramore, and Fall Out Boy with the people who experienced it first.
"I see a lot of kids still at Emo Night because they never got to see Cobra Starship or My Chemical Romance live in their heyday, said Nick Karp, a photographer who has traveled with the show for 10 years. "This is almost like a discovery for them."
Since its inception in 2015 by co-founders Alex Badanes and Ethan Maccoby, Emo Night Brooklyn has expanded to dates worldwide, playing for as many as 3,000 people at a time.
Now, as they enjoy their 10th anniversary, the event has taken on another purpose. Even as the years go by, the co-founders have always prioritized affordability in a space where tickets are more costly than ever.
"We've always been somewhere between $10 and around $20 for a ticket," Maccoby told NJ Advance Media. "We've always wanted Emo Night as an accessible way to still celebrate all your favorite music with other fans of this genre of music."
About 400 people attended this past Friday's event, which began much like the first hour of a high school dance. Everybody is mingling and laughing within their friend groups. You almost don't want to be the first to go on the dance floor because you're waiting for the right song.
The main DJ holding emo court from the stage initially played it cool, engaging the crowd with some banter. Occasionally, he would interject with a question that would show your age if you raised your hand, such as "Who here had a Myspace account?"
Half the room may or may not have known the anxiety of picking the right song lyric for your AIM away message.
One of the first songs played was The Killers' 2004 single, "Somebody Told Me." While there may be some debate as to whether that particular Killers song belongs within the emo-music pantheon, "Mr. Brightside" came later in the evening and elicited one of the biggest singalongs. Slowly but surely, people began leaving corners of the concert hall. Talking and exchanging pleasantries turned into singing once Dashboard Confessional's 2004's "Vindicated" and Taking Back Sunday's 2002 classic "Cute Without the 'E' (Cut from the Team)" played.
Then, it was time for the night to get a little lively. Lit's "My Own Worst Enemy" may have been the prelude, but The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus's "Face Down" started bringing people to the center of the floor.
Like a brewing storm over a highway, tiny clusters of a mosh pit began to form. It wasn't necessarily people running into each other -- too many adult responsibilities for a broken nose. They were more coming together as an amateur emo choir, singing A Day To Remember's throttling cover of Kelly Clarkson's "Since You've Been Gone," Story of the Year's spirited singalong "Until The Day I Die," and Paramore's Evanescence-inspired "Decode." The DJ asked who was Team Jacob or Team Edward ("Decode" was on the "Twilight" movie soundtrack, of course). Judging by the response, Jersey City was a Team Jacob crowd.
The night's most delightfully raucous moment came when a particular block of songs set off a continual mosh pit. Again, it's open to debate as to whether bands like Linkin Park and System of a Down should be included in Emo Night, but the crowd ate it up. For "One Step Closer," more specifically the late Chester Bennington's voice during the serrated bridge, caused a frenzy.
The breakneck, stop-and-start pace of SOAD's "Chop Suey" saw faces, young and old, come together in separate circles to sing along to the harmonies of Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian. Soon, many of those drinks purchased early evening coated the black floor like a shared badge of honor.
Attending Emo Night Brooklyn was a humorous, full-circle moment for one particular Hoboken resident.
"This was high school for me, "said Chris, 34, to NJ Advance Media. "It's funny because I used to make fun of kids who listened to emo music in high school. It turns out I kind of liked it."
Emo Night is not only a place to come to listen to songs during the heyday of 00s' alternative rock. You can use your iPhone for that. It's capturing the essence of musical discovery (or rediscovery), where people are not putting on for appearances.
It's the feeling you got wearing your unpadded Chuck Taylors as your favorite band played the Journeys stage of Warped Tour was reclaimed for one night.
And it's not that emo music (or any music for that matter) carries an expiration date. As long as experiences like Emo Night Brooklyn exists, the memories and melodies will stay fresh forever.
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