Seven Hills Music Festival: Worcester's Four Year Strong Deliver a Festival Worth Repeating
On July 11, music fans enjoyed the inaugural Seven Hills Music Festival, a one-day event held at the Palladium Outdoors in Worcester, Massachusetts. The festival was the vision of local legends Four Year Strong to celebrate their 25th anniversary, featuring the band performing their debut album Rise or Die Trying in full.
Four Year Strong curated a stacked lineup for the day, pulling in New England punk, emo, and hardcore favorites alongside friends from further out: Silverstein, Knuckle Puck, Origami Angel, A Loss For Words, Worry Club, One Step Closer, Spaced, Haywire, and Hard Target.
And what a perfect day for a festival. The heat was not terrible, hovering in the mid 80s, with an occasional breeze bringing brief cloud cover for fans.
Sets rotated between the main and second stage through the first half of the day, so the music barely stopped. It also meant RØKKR was able to cover the entire festival end-to-end. So without any further delay, let's dive into the bands, in order of appearance. There is a lot to cover, so we will keep the tempo moving!
WORRY CLUB
Opening a festival is never an easy assignment. The sun is already beating down on the asphalt, and the crowd is still perusing the merch stands and food options rather than flocking to the barricade. But Chicago's indie/emo Worry Club drew plenty of fans to the stage, with frontman Chase Walsh covering every inch of it. Their set impressed enough that my daughter was already looking at upcoming tour dates, seeing they will be back in the Northeast later this year supporting The Wrecks.
HARD TARGET
Over on the second stage, Central Mass' Hard Target brought the day's first dose of hardcore, getting the mosh pits primed for the day and creating enough commotion to pull a curious crowd over while the main stage reset. I'd love the chance to catch these guys on a full hardcore bill, where their intensity can truly shine.
ORIGAMI ANGEL
Zedd's “Clarity" began pumping as Washington DC's Origami Angel took the main stage. To be honest, it was a perfect song choice, as Origami Angel's genre is a bit hard to pin down. Guitarist and vocalist Ryland Heagy would slide between what seemed like easy listening lounge music and emo with complex rhythm changes. Whatever you want to call the genre, it fit well on a bill that leaned into post-hardcore. You get the impression Heagy is completely confident in his own skin, and his energy and big smile is infectious. He easily got the crowd moving by calling out, "Let's fuckin dance, y'all."
SPACED
Buffalo's Spaced hit the second stage with their self-described far-out hardcore and wasted no time pulling fans closer. It felt like during this set, the crowd collectively decided the heat no longer mattered and the festival had kicked into full gear.
KNUCKLE PUCK
With the arrival of Chicago's Knuckle Puck, the lineup shifted into the experienced touring bands. I always make it a point to pause and observe the crowd. Watch closely enough and you can catch the exact moment a song unlocks a core memory for someone. By this set, the festival was settling into the evening, the sun low enough that the stage lights finally began to pop, and you were now seeing familiar faces among the crowd surfers as they made multiple passes.
ONE STEP CLOSER
Pennsylvania's One Step Closer kept the tempo climbing with their set of melodic hardcore. With their energy spilling over from the second stage, it definitely felt like the primer before Haywire took the main stage to set the crowd off.
HAYWIRE
Boston hardcore outfit Haywire played their first outdoor show at the Palladium, and the crowd went absolutely bonkers during their set. As rowdy as it got, frontman Austin Sparkman commanded the crowd between songs, always bringing a moment of calm for everyone to catch their breath before the next one dropped in.
Haywire hasn't been on the scene for too long, but they bring immense local loyalty and even spent the start of this year touring and dropping a split album with New England punk legends, Dropkick Murphys.
Before their set ended, Sparkman paused to make sure everyone hugged the person they came with tonight, reiterating that you never know when it is the last time they are alive. Heavy words from a heavy band, but this is why fans love them so much.
A LOSS FOR WORDS
Massachusetts punk veterans A Loss For Words were the final band on the second stage. To the side of the stage, their young families. The band was very appreciative of the twenty plus years of support and now being able to have their kids "watch their dads be rock stars." Frontman Matty Arsenault spent most of the set at the barricade singing with fans. An incredible final set to close out the second stage.
SILVERSTEIN
As the sun set, Ontario post-hardcore mainstays Silverstein played songs spanning their entire catalog. Looking around, the crowd was very mixed age wise, which is all any band that has been around for almost three decades can ask for. It's inspiring to see bands like this and watch their music, their creative existence, get passed down to another generation.
FOUR YEAR STRONG
Hometown heroes Four Year Strong took the stage to bring the festival to a close, and it was one of those sets where you truly feel transported to another place. The band played for the better part of two hours with nearly no break between songs, opening with Rise or Die Trying in full before rolling straight into more songs from across their catalog.
As I finished in the photo pit and watched from the crowd on stage right, a young kid sat on his mom's shoulders wearing a shirt that said “Worcester's Greatest Rock Band." For a band that started in a basement across town 25 years ago, closing out their own festival in their own city was as fitting a storybook ending as anyone could write.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Four Year Strong delivered on this festival. When this year started, it seemed like festival after festival was being cancelled. But once again, the industry underestimated the resiliency of fans and live music. I hope Seven Hills becomes a mainstay. I really do. I could see Four Year Strong headlining every year while mixing up the lineup with local bands and musician friends from afar. I mean, could you imagine Boundaries or even Dropkick Murphys coming through in future years? I really hope it's not a one and done.
Thanks to Four Year Strong for hosting RØKKR at the first Seven Hills Music Festival. See you at year two!
Didn’t see yourself in the galleries above? Check out our bonus gallery below for more crowd-surfing and mosh pit chaos! If you spot yourself, we want to hear from you! Let us know in the comments!
