Photo gallery: 311 w/ AWOLNATION and Blame My Youth | 09.26.23, The Factory

Photo of 311’s Nick Hexum by Karl Beck

They may hail from Omaha, but 311 has always received a ton of love from The Lou, going back to their ‘90s heyday when they headlined not one but two Pointfests (Pointfest 6 in 1996 and Pointfest 12 in 2000). The band’s first visit to the Factory (and only their second indoor show in the St. Louis area in the last 17 years) was packed with the band’s biggest hits, opening with the iconic grungy guitar riff of “Beautiful Disaster” and flowing through the reggae-inflected good time vibes of songs like “All Mixed Up,” “Come Original,” and their smash hit cover of the Cure’s “Lovesong.” Though the band doesn’t have a new release to tour just yet, they still found time for more recent songs like “One and the Same” (from 2017’s Mosaic) and “What The?!” (from their most recent long player, 2019’s Voyager). The encore naturally closed with the rap-rock classic “Down,” the band’s breakthrough hit.

Opening the show were Chicago’s Blame My Youth (recently seen here opening for HARDY) and AWOLNATION. Aaron Bruno’s electro-rock band is preparing to drop a new EP, Candy Pop, this November. | Jason Green