“It’s not really two shows, it’s like one show with an overnight intermission,” guitarist Jack O’Shea told the crowd during night one of Bayside at the Revolution Hall in Portland, Oregon. While there were a few fans that only attended one of the two nights they performed, the majority in the crowd did in fact get the full performance on Bayside’s “Errors” tour, returning for the second night after their “overnight intermission.” The first night of Bayside’s performance featured songs from their first four albums, 2004’s Sirens and Condolences, 2005’s self-titled album, 2007’s The Walking Wounded, and 2008’s Shudder, while night two was dedicated to the second half of their discography, starting with 2011’s Killing Time all the way through to last year’s release There Are Worse Things Than Being Alive.

This two-night split seemed like the perfect way for a band like Bayside to do an eras tour. By spreading their performance across two nights, the band was able to include many of their hits throughout their 25 year run as well as the “deep cuts” that generally don’t get played live. For the fans that might say they only like their “older” or “newer” stuff, there was a night guaranteed for them, while dedicated fans got treated to two nights and a total of 43 songs from Bayside’s discography.

Smoking Popes, a Chicago-based punk band with a career even longer than Bayside’s, joined them on tour in support, playing different sets each night as well. Bayside talked about how much they admired Smoking Popes and how happy they were to have them join the tour. The admiration was mutual. Before Smoking Popes played their song “Megan” from their 1997 album Destination Failure, they joked that “it was originally our song, but once Bayside covers your song it’s theirs now.” The crowd laughed and sang along. Admittedly, I hadn’t even known “Megan” was originally their song, either.

Both nights of Bayside featured loads of crowd surfing and an enthusiastic audience. Fans at the front of the barricade proudly donned their VIP laminates from the pre-show meet and greet with the band and wore Bayside T-shirts, some just purchased on this tour and others from tours years back. The band started their set the first night with “Montauk” from their self-titled album as cheers rang out and hands raised in the crowd. Not long into the anthem, the first crowd surfer made their way to the front.

Throughout the show Bayside showed their appreciation for fans and gratitude for a 25-year career that’s still going strong. “We like to think of this tour as not only a celebration of the last 25 years but as a kick-off party for the next 25 years,” vocalist Anthony Raneri told the crowd towards the end of the first night.

“I’ve never had a job and thank you guys very much for making that happen for me,” he joked.

The celebration continued the following night and the energy in the crowd was just as high as night one. The overnight intermission replenished fans’ energy, and there was no shortage of crowd surfing and moshing during the “second half” of their performance. Bayside opened the second evening with “How to Ruin Everything (Patience)” from their latest album, There Are Worse Things Than Being Alive, and followed that with 2019’s “Interrobang,” getting the crowd off their feet and jumping. The evening culminated in an encore of “Objectivist On Fire” followed by Killing Time’s popular anthem, “Sick, Sick, Sick,” which saw no less than six crowd surfers (I lost count after six).

As someone that hadn’t listened to Bayside seriously, I was worried I didn’t know their music well enough for an eras-style tour, but both nights I found myself singing along the majority of the time. Raneri joked the first night about the sticker their record label put on their 2004 debut album, advertising them as being “from the record label that brought you Thursday and Taking Back Sunday, your new favorite band,” and while Bayside never quite reached the same ranks as Thursday or Taking Back Sunday in my playlists, their catchy anthems still solidified their place in my head. And after seeing Bayside perform such a collection of their work, I can guarantee they’ll be climbing the ranks in my list of “most listened to” artists. As I left the venue the second night, I listened to Killing Time, the 2011 album the band credited with their long-term success during their performance.