REVIEW: No Holds Barred: Knocked Loose Tear Up Chicago with Unmatched Hardcore Intensity
REVIEW
REVIEW
☆ BY KIMBERLY KAPELA ☆
Photography Credit: Heriberto Gallegos
IGNITING A PERFECT STORM OF AGGRESSION AND HARD-HITTING INTENSITY – On Friday, November 1, Knocked Loose set Chicago’s iconic Aragon Ballroom ablaze with an unforgettable night of hardcore music and unrestrained energy, celebrating their newest album You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To. The show was a visceral, no-holds-barred experience, with the packed crowd feeding off the band’s intensity from the very first note.
The Kentucky hardcore titans kicked off their set with the explosive new track “Thirst,” and the audience didn’t hold back for even a moment. As the song’s opening crushing breakdown hit, a sea of fans erupted into chaos, with mosh pits spreading like wildfire across the historic ballroom floor. Crowd surfers flew in waves, keeping security on their toes and drenched in sweat as they tirelessly worked to catch each person launched from the eager crowd.
The energy only escalated as Knocked Loose tore through a setlist packed with both new material and fan favorites like “Deep in the Willow” and “Mistakes Like Fractures.” Frontman Bryan Garris delivered his signature unrelenting vocals, commanding the room with raw power and aggressive emotion. Midway through the set, Garris took a moment to speak directly to the crowd.
“Chicago is our second home,” Garris said, “We fell in love with this city when we played Metro years ago, but we always dreamed of taking the stage at the Aragon Ballroom. Tonight, we get to cross this off our bucket list.” The crowd responded with an ear-splitting roar, reaffirming the relationship between Knocked Loose and the city’s passionate hardcore community.
Photography Credit: Heriberto Gallegos
Knocked Loose ripped into “God Knows,” which turned the Aragon Ballroom into a hurricane of sound and fury. Garris’ raging hardcore vocals pierced through the chaos, his voice a whirlwind of intensity that sent shockwaves through the crowd. Each scream seemed to reach deeper than the last, sharpening as the song unfolded, while the audience matched the band’s aggression with uncontainable energy.
The breakdowns in “God Knows” flowed into “Don’t Reach For Me” pushed the ballroom to its breaking point, with bodies colliding in the mosh pit and fans climbing over each other to crowd surf. The band’s crushing instrumentals were relentless, hitting like a series of sonic gut-punches that left no room to breathe.
When Knocked Loose launched into “Trapped in the Grasp of a Memory,” the band tore into hard-hitting riffs and pounding drums, fans screamed every word of the song’s powerful chorus: “I am trapped in the grasp of a memory / It crawls like water through the veins of the weak / Memory / Kept awake by the grinding of teeth.”
Before diving into “Dead Ringer,” Garris made a direct request to the crowd at the barricade: “Bang your heads really hard!” The audience obliged without hesitation, and as the first crushing notes blasted through the venue, an explosion of raw energy rippled through the room.
Almost instantly, three massive circle pits erupted in different sections of the floor, creating a swirling storm of bodies crashing and colliding in rhythm. The crowd at the front row followed Garris’ command and the band matched this energy with a performance that was both punishing and exhilarating, with the frontman’s sharp vocals cutting through the chaos and amplifying the adrenaline that pumped through the crowd.
Photography Credit: Heriberto Gallegos
As Knocked Loose neared the end of their blistering set at the Aragon Ballroom, they took things to an entirely new level with the back-to-back heavy hitters “Counting Worms” and “Suffocate.” These two tracks became the ultimate climax of their performance, whipping the crowd into a storm of chaos and setting the stage for an unforgettable finale.
When the iconic barks of “Counting Worms” rang out, the entire room erupted with primal energy. It was a pure explosion of adrenaline, the kind of moment where you could feel the walls of the Aragon vibrating under the sheer force of the music and the crowd’s wild energy.
“Suffocate” came crashing in next, and the band didn’t let up for even a second. The crushing breakdowns and Garris’ gut-wrenching screams fueled a wave of headbanging and mosh pit madness, with every corner of the ballroom feeding off the band’s power.
Then came the closing song, “Sit & Mourn,” which unleashed the audience’s fiercest energy yet. It was the final push, the moment everyone had been waiting for – a cathartic release that sent fans into overdrive. Fans gave every last ounce of their energy, turning the floor into a whirlwind of chaos and leaving everything they had in the pit. “Sit & Mourn” was the perfect, ferocious send-off for the band.
Throughout their set, Garris’ voice was a force of nature, his guttural screams and viciously raw vocals driving the song forward. The sheer passion behind his delivery connected with the crowd in a primal way, transforming the Aragon into a storm of headbanging, crowd surfing and full-throttle moshing.
From the hard-hitting breakdowns to the unstoppable stream of crowd surfers at every song, the show felt like a communal outpouring of aggression and joy. By the end of the night, Knocked Loose had proved once again why they are one of the most electrifying acts in hardcore today: a force that channels chaos into connection, bringing people together through the sheer power of their music.
Photography Credit: Heriberto Gallegos
