There are good gigs, there are great gigs, and then there is what Four Year Strong, Koyo, and Shoreline did at KOKO on Wednesday. It was a sweat from all orifices, pee yourself, and worry it won’t get better than this kind of Hardcore pop punk gig; days later, we are still getting told off for singing Wasting Time at work.
Four Year Strong – Koyo – Shoreline
KOKO – 26 February 2025
Words: Lucy Dunnet
Photography: Ashlinn Nash
Four Year Strong
KOKO had packed out like a bright red can of sardines for Four Year Strong’s highly anticipated Analysis Paralysis tour, but the minimal space for movement only heightened the expectant buzz as we waited for the synth throb intro to Aftermath/Afterthought. When the Easycore veterans hit the stage, the crowd ripped apart and bounced into a pit as guttural screams and punk-fuelled rage reverberated around us. 
Another banger from Analysis Paralysis, Bad Habit, came on next and brought tears of amusement to our eyes as fans attempted to imitate the iconic belly grunts of “hoo” in the chorus. When a set starts this strong, with carnage in the crowd and fan favourites already being ticked off the set bingo list, you know you are in for a real treat of a show.
“You guys are amazing,” said one of the four-piece, unable to see who as we were so deep in the haze of our Four Year Strong-induced paralysis. Alan Day and Dan O’Connor share lead vocal and guitar responsibilities, with Jake Massucco on drums and Joe Weiss on bass. Four Year Strong, you are amazing, too. 
From the Get Out Of My Head vocal riff to the commands in It Must Really Suck To Be Four Year Strong Right Now, the KOKO crowd were singing themselves hoarse and moshing their breath away. After the heated, upbeat Find My Way Back, we left the classics for Uncooked. The constant breakdowns, eerie harmonies and punky chorus made this yet another fan favourite. We are very much in need of a new term here because it can’t be ok to call every track on a setlist a fan favourite. Or can it?
Every song was fuelled with fuck off punk energy, with pop punk cheeriness cutting through the hardcore foundations that Four Year Strong is built on. The crowd was obsessed. Maybe It’s Me and Seventeen were mild respites as the band slowed down and became nostalgic. “Every time we come back to this city, we have an amazing time, and that’s because of you.”
Unsurprisingly, Go Down In History caused an absolute uproar. Fans soared to the crowd centre, paying their homage to this iconic band with ravenous energy that only seemed to increase as the set progressed. We All Float Down Here’s “tick-tock, it’s tickin’ away” felt far too relevant as we were told there was one song left; we could have headbanged, moshed, danced, jumped, and sung to Four Year Strong for days—or, at the very least, hours. 
Crowdsurfers came faster than a tsunami wave towards the barrier for the set closer, Wasting Time (Eternal Summer), giving us one final chance to break a sweat and revel in the unwavering energy of Four Year Strong and their fans. This gig has gone down in history and will have us hunting every possible opportunity to see these Hardcore pop punk titans again. 
Koyo
Bring in the moshers. As soon as I Might Not blasted from the speakers, KOKO’s crowd made sure Koyo received a warm, bouncing welcome. We admit we only started listening to Koyo a few days before the show but were immediately sucked into their ridiculously addictive blend of pop punk and Hardcore; we couldn’t wait to catch them live. 
Each Koyo track has the sharpest of catchy hooks. Moriches and Life’s A Pill saw fans trying their hardest to get up close and personal with Joey Chiaramonte (vocals) so they could scream the lyrics back at him.
Chiaramonte screamed: “We got one thing to do: warm this place up for Four Year Strong.” The moshpit transformed into a black hole, sucking in crowd members that got too close and keeping them (voluntarily, of course) in its pop punk in nature, Hardcore in spirit embrace. KOKO was full of jumping, dancing, and even wolf-whistling old and new Koyo fans. 
From the amount of undying energy radiating off Koyo, you couldn’t tell it was the second last day of the tour. “This is by far the best show of the tour, all due respect to the other UK places,” admitted Chiaramonte, “look at this packed-ass beautiful room.”
Ever the lovers of flattery, the London crowd picked up the pace for Koyo’s last few songs. Beers emptied or flung away, the pit engulfed even more moshers as Koyo ended their set with Ten Digits Away. Chiaramonte, TJ Rotolico and Harold Griffin (guitars), Stephen Spanos (bass) and Sal Argento (drums) make up one hell of a five-piece: we have no doubt the next time we review them, it will be for their own UK headline tour. 
Shoreline
Shoreline took to the KOKO stage with an unassuming youthful energy that did nothing to prepare us for their performance’s pure passion and increasingly raging tracks. They kicked off their set with Needles, a song that may be on the softer end of Shoreline’s impressive spectrum of sounds but still had the crowd nodding approval over the night’s choice for a support band. 
“We feel deeply connected to the DIY Hardcore punk scene,” said Hansol Seung (vocals, guitar), as he delivered an emotive speech about the inclusivity label of the scene despite its apparent lack of inclusivity: it’s still only white dudes at shows and on stage. He made a plea to us all to take care of each other and make it safe, commanding respect and gratitude from the crowd. 
Emotions were high both on stage and in front of it as they launched into Seoul, a beautiful track about overcoming stereotypes, which Seung, Julius Hecht (vocals, guitar) and Christoph Smierfätt (vocal, bass) screamed with a rawness that highlighted the band’s undeniable chemistry. 
Camden’s KOKO had reached an impressive capacity so early in the night, triggering a quick nostalgic recap of Shoreline’s previous trips to the UK, which were to crowds of the first five people and then ten. “When we first walked in, we felt like we had no business being here, but you make us feel very welcome,” said Seung. 
Shoreline collaborated with Knucklepuck’s Joe Taylor on their latest single, Forgive, and the intense jumps from soft melodies to emotive scream harmonies made it one of the highlights of their set. Until Bent/Broken, that is, which saw Smierfätt so overcome with enthusiasm that he nearly tumbled off the stage.
Watch out for this German emo punk/Hardcore outfit: They are here to shake up the scene.
