Today on the blog, I’m introducing a new series: The Concert Diaries. In this new series, I want to show behind-the-scenes concert photos, introduce you to new bands, and just share my general experiences at the shows I go to. For my first concert diary, I’m sharing the exciting time I had while seeing State Champs on the Living Proof Tour.

Over the weekend, I traveled to Louisville, Kentucky to see one of my favorite pop punk bands, State Champs, at the Mercury Ballroom. This wasn’t my first time seeing State Champs, in fact, I’ve seen them quite a few times. However, this was my first time going to a concert at the Mercury Ballroom. The venue was a lot smaller than I had expected, but I liked that no matter where you stood in the crowd, you were always pretty close to the stage. I should probably mention that the show was sold out!

I purchased VIP tickets to this show, so I got to the venue about an hour before I had to be checked in for VIP. I received a cool ‘swag bag’ that came with a lanyard, copy of their cd, autographed poster and a drawstring bag to carry it all in.

After VIP was all checked in, we were let into the venue where the band did a special acoustic session for us. They performed two songs, one of which was “The Fix Up,” and I about died of happiness because I’ve been waiting to hear that song live since the album came out. Then, we took a photo of the whole VIP group before the band divided up to mingle around and meet fans.

Around this time, I met up with my friend Alysa, who I had met at the last State Champs concert I went to in Indianapolis. I also got to meet a sweet girl named Natalie who I had been following on Twitter for a while, which is always fun (if either of you are reading this, hi 👋🏻). We all met the band and took turns taking photos for each other, and then enjoyed the show together.

I think one of my favorite things about this band, is that they don’t rush their meet and greets like I’ve experienced with other artists. They’ll actually have a full-on conversation with you, and their conversations are generally pretty funny at that. They also show you how much they genuinely appreciate you. I think my favorite part of the meet and greet portion was when their guitarists Tyler and Tony commented on how new my Dr. Martens looked and then we just had a full-on conversation about shoes. 😂 Never a dull moment with these guys.

The band met fans for as long as they could, up until the venue opened the doors for the show. I didn’t have enough time to meet Ryan this time, but I will next time for sure!

The other bands who played that night were Big Smile, Grayscale, and The Dangerous Summer. I’ve listened to Grayscale before and I also love their music. I’ve heard a few songs by The Dangerous Summer and they played two of the songs that I knew. Overall, all the openers put on a good show. It didn’t feel like time dragged on like it does at some shows, especially when you aren’t familiar with any of the opening bands. During The Dangerous Summer’s set, and during their last song, the lead singer came out into the crowd to finish the song, so that was pretty cool!

And in case you were wondering, State Champs put on an awesome show like they always do. They always have the best stage presence at their shows, and the crowd’s energy is always insane! I do think the band was limited to what they could do at this particular show, because the stage was pretty small for all five of them to be up there. But the pyrotechnics definitely made up for it!

State Champs Living Proof Tour Mercury Ballroom Concert Diary

I could honestly go on and on about how awesome this band is, and how amazing the concert was. I’ve been listening to this band and actively seeing them in concert for 4 years now. I’ve made so many memories with friends at their shows, and I’ve made countless new friends along the way. I have a lot to thank them for, whether it’s putting out good music to help me through my bad days, or taking the time to meet me time and time again. At this point, I don’t know where I’d be if I hadn’t ever started listening to them.

Let me know what you think of this new concert diary series in the comments! Would you rather me go into specific details next time, such as the outfit I wore or the songs on the set list? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Until next time,