A Day To Remember at the Olympia : a crazy night before heading to the Slam Dunk !
- Jun 2, 2025
- 3 min read
On Friday 30 May, the Olympia played host to the legendary band A Day To Remember before their appearance at the Slam Dunk Festival in Lyon. The band, who are just as adept at pop-punk as they are at metalcore, invited Split Chain to support them for an evening of incomparable energy.
Split Chain opened the evening and warmed up the room
The Californian band Split Chain opened the evening in a hushed atmosphere: almost total darkness, with only a bluish light and a light intro broadcast via telephone. The sound lacked clarity, especially on the vocals. But as soon as the first guitar solo was played, the amp got the room rocking, and the pace picked up - some fans timidly started a circle pit, but the WODs never really took off. The singer, despite being short of breath at times, made up for this with a generous stage presence. Gradually the jumps increased, and it was on the fourth track that the band unleashed a veritable moshpit. The rhythm guitarist, with his constant screams, plays his part perfectly, both musically and in terms of live energy. Estimated set time: 30 minutes, with a sober but already highly impactful approach.
A Day To Remember: the chaos of unparalleled energy
A Day To Remember made their long-awaited return to Paris to a white-hot Olympia. From the moment they took to the stage, the intensity was immediate. The floor of the legendary Paris venue literally began to shake under the frantic jumps of the audience, who didn't wait long before throwing themselves wholeheartedly into the pogos and slams.
The band's energy is dazzling. Jeremy McKinnon, true to form, alternates moments of communion with the crowd with perfectly honed directives to transform each track into a collective performance: circle pits, walls of death, repeated crowdsurfing... everything goes. At one point, he even says: “I wanna see the biggest circle pit this venue is gonna see for years” - and it's an understatement to say that the audience responded to the call. Within seconds, the center of the pit emptied, then exploded in a circular movement as impressive as it was frenetic.
The atmosphere builds to a crescendo, so much so that by the first few tracks, several shoes are already lost in the battle, while dozens of slammers appear by the third track. A little later, the venue was covered in confetti and giant balloons, as if to reflect the general euphoria.
More than just a string of hits, this concert was an emotional rollercoaster. The power of tracks like Paranoia and Miracle was followed by more touching moments, such as Have Faith In Me or If It Means A Lot To You, sung in chorus by the whole room, flashlights on, creating a suspended interlude in the midst of the chaos.
The band made no secret of their delight at being there on several occasions: “This might be the best show of the tour so far”, said Jeremy, visibly impressed by the involvement of the Parisian audience. And when the crowd was invited to split for yet another wall of death, the Olympia literally split in two. At other times, crowdsurfers rained down on the barriers, provoking a few grimaces from the security staff, whom the band took the time to thank warmly at the end of the show.
Between the highlights, the humorous winks and a few unexpected surprises (a pop punk version of Since U Been Gone and the appearance of Mario armed with a T-shirt cannon), A Day To Remember put on a dense, generous and perfectly balanced show. A simple but effective set design underlined the whole, without overdoing it: the essential part was elsewhere, in the sweat, the screams and the explosive communion between the band and their audience.
When it was time for the encore, the band returned to round off an already unforgettable evening in style. Back on stage with acoustic guitars, the musicians salute Split Chain: "Make some noise for Split Chain! Check out their music-it will change your fucking life." A nice gesture of camaraderie. This was followed by If It Means a Lot to You, a flashlight-lit chorus reprise, then Flowers, and confetti to celebrate their return to the stage. Finally, they follow up with All My Friends, a massive energetic track, before closing with Take Take Take.
There wasn't much energy left in the pit, but it didn't matter: right up to the last riff, A Day To Remember had given it their all - and Paris too.
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