Emo fans and millennials alike (one and the same, mostly) crowded into an ultra-densely packed First Avenue Thursday for the Minnesota stop of the Three Cheers for Twenty Years tour of Mayday Parade. You could cut the anticipation in the air with a knife - despite being an early show (doors 5, show 6), the eagerness and excitement of the nearly already wall to wall crowd prior to Like Roses starting the show was impossible to miss. Mayday Parade has always maintained a dedicated and loyal following, but there was something special about this our that seemed to really pack the house - perhaps the prospects of, in the band’s own words “celebrating our deep music catalog starting at this band’s inception and continuing with our new releases this year”, meaning some deep cuts were likely to show up that you wouldn’t catch at any other show.

Bay Area crooners Like Roses kicked things off with the alternatingly straightforward yells and soft singing of lead guitarist/vocalist Amy Schamlkuche paired with frenetic fretboard work from guitarist Devin Zamora. They were crowded onto a stage that perhaps had never been designed for a rig quite as big as Mayday Parade’s so the openers didn’t have quite as much room to move around as one would expect. That didn’t stop them from really setting an exciting tone for the evening to come - Schmalkuche’s straightforward, intimate and personal lyrics paired with high energy and pulse pounding riffs - what more could you ask for? Their time on stage was all too short but all too sweet, hopping off after just shy of 21 minutes of playing. A band to watch out for!

Philadelphia’s Greyscale started their set totally silhouetted, deep blue house lights hiding Collin Walsh as he began singing “The Hart’, their opening song. The only light on stage besides some faint soft backlighting was the massive light up clover, their mascot and thematic representation (and notable album feature on 2025’s The Hart. Less straightforwardly rock than the band before them, it’s the earnestness and fervor with which Walsh bares his heart and soul to the audience - and with open arms - that really sets Grayscale apart. You can see this intense honesty onstage - they quickly strip down the barrier between artist and audience and leave nothing behind on stage, Walsh screaming and singing with such force that he is practically showering the microphone (as you can see below). Their emotional set covered the first few songs off of their new album, then jumped around the discography before ending with older hit “Not Afraid To Die”.

Nathan Hardy and co. took the stage next - the Atlanta-based Microwave - whose aggressive vocal delivery and angular guitar playing ratcheted up the heaviness of the night. Following the theme of “deeper” cuts, they started things off with “Mirrors” off Death Is A Warm Blanket but then swung back to 2016 for “Lighterless”, whose driving riff and haunting hummed outro showed that Microwave were truly a standout band. Their immediate energy was propelled by Hardy’s raw vocal delivery, screaming full throated and yelling his who heart into every line. Lucas Jones - touring member - put everything they had into the supporting rhythm work, dancing around the stage with reckless abandon at every opportunity. A band to simultaneously headbang and close your eyes and hum along to, this spastic dichotomy is a special blend of chaos onstage, something all their own.

The main event started with a blast of fog, and Mayday Parade launched right into the lead track off of new EP Sweet “By the Way”, lead singer Derek Sanders safely sequestered behind the massive piano in the back of the stage as they rolled right through the bouncy track. It wouldn’t be long before he emerged to kick things up a notch though - they then jumped back 19 years for “Just Say You’re Not Into It” and things really got crazy. Brooks Betts & Alex Garcia took turns jumping onto the risers as they played this ancient cut, Sanders alternately jumping on risers with them and crouching as far up the stage as he possibly could between them as the circle light fixtures added a beautiful glow from each side. The band set out for memorable and it didn’t take long for memorable to be achieved - there was a wealth of thought put into the stage presentation and the energy on display was truly impressive, Brooks in particular seemingly unhappy to remain still for a single second.

Additionally, the promise of deep cuts and an experience for the fans was delivered on to a massive degree - three separate vocal features with the vocalist from each of the bands on the tour (I'd Hate to Be You When People Find Out What This Song Is About” being a particular standout as Walsh would return to the stage with the same visceral energy from before) and featuring songs from at least 9 different works from the band’s discography, it was truly “for the fans” from the ground up. You could tell the joy that each band member was playing with - you can sometimes tell when a band is going through the motion or has smiles plastered on their faces for show, but everyone in Mayday Parade was absolutely having the time of their life, and as you felt the old bus station vibrate in unison with the bouncing of the audience, you could tell everyone in attendance was too.