I CAN’T HEAR YOU! Pierce the Veil w/ Sleeping with Sirens & Beach Weather | 06.08.25, Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre (with photo gallery)

Photo of Jaime Preciado of Pierce the Veil by Jen Ruff

Two or three days prior to Beach Weather warming up Hollywood Casino for the rainy (but confirmed SOLD OUT) show, something hit me out of nowhere. More on that in a bit. Beach Weather neither looked nor sounded like what I’d expect would’ve opened such a massive tour with two pop punk legends. I love when music does that for the most part. You don’t expect such widely dissimilar music to amp a crowd up for an outdoor venue with a solid threat of a rain-soaked night. It wasn’t just cowboy hats and boots that felt more than a bit twangy: the indie rock band came with their 2023 platinum hit “Sex, Drugs, Etc.” and really entertained the crowd. A handful of other songs like “Swoon,” “High in Low Places,” and “Unlovable” had the crowd up and dancing. 

Sleeping With Sirens guitarist Nick Martin shocked me. I was preparing my thoughts and observing the crowd and ambiance thinking of what I’d write here and there he was, one-quarter of the way into the crowd, standing right behind me playing. I giggled, but girls around me screamed and fawned. After almost a few decades of performing everywhere with every essential emo/pop punk band, you’d suspect they’d have dried up or gotten even a little stale but not in the slightest. They still jumped and spun around like they were fresh out of the garage wanting to desperately play at a Warped Tour (at this very venue) like they had for many summers. As direct support for their friends, they did their job. Fans screamed, danced, and jumped along to a great amount of hits including “Better Off Dead,” “A Trophy Father’s Trophy Son,” and the back-to-back massive hits “If I’m James Dean, You’re Audrey Hepburn” and “If You Can’t Hang.”  Having just seen them open for the Used fairly recently, I’d thought they might be tired and maybe not go as hard, but they crushed it even harder. Vocalist Kellin Quinn sincerely thanked everyone for packing in a massive crowd despite the threat of inclement weather and definitely with no radio nor video play to promote this show—just fans connecting with humans and I’m with him; I like it that way. I love that pop punk grows and still resonates some nearly two decades later without anything to support aside from loyal and dedicated fanbases. 

The “I Can’t Hear You” tour has been selling out worldwide because Pierce the Veil remain feeling brand new. Despite 18 years of being a band, and having personally seen them so often in their careers, even I recognize you have to have very acute senses to spot many differences from them when they were fresh and green to these polished men now married with children. The energy is unmatched in bands half their age and their talent is still growing larger than I’d ever have thought possible. A 19-song set definitely insured that every fan in attendance had a good shot of hearing at least five of their life staples… those songs you go to for remembering that love you had, that wild summer, etc. I lost count of how many people grabbed each other when certain songs came on. I was up to 12 I believe, but it kept repeating. People just instantly nostalgic when an opening chord played. For me Pierce the Veil does have several of these songs for me including my very favorite song—EVER. It’s called “She Makes Dirty Words Sound Pretty” and only could be partially sang because no one in the venue could’ve pulled off Jonny Craig’s contribution to that song, but it was sweet to hear the first verse of it live and was the first time I ever had. 

Bassist Jaime Preciado has this killer riff from “Pass the Nirvana” where he drags his finger along one string from the bottom up and it’s just so entertaining to watch these guys make the music come alive. Sure enough; so did the rain. It poured, but no one moved an inch toward the door because that a-ha moment that hit me hit everyone. “King for a Day” got quite the TikTokers on the bandwagon for the band and live (normally) Jaime would help vocalist Vic Fuentes with the lyrics that were screamed by… KELLIN QUINN but not on this tour. We’d get a proper version of such a massive hit and there was not a soul in the crowd unaffected. This was a perfect live performance and a moment 25k plus might not ever forget in our lifetime. There is so much to swallow with the state of the current climate in our country and the still devastated communities from a tornado that all but ravaged chunks of our city, but music is this thing that can come in and heal us a bit to help us navigate what seems insurmountable. And as we splashed our way out of Maryland Heights drenched that night, it was a very good rinse off of our souls. | Diane Ruff