2025 has been a unique year for pop-punk, post-hardcore, and emo fans as many of our favorite artists are starting to celebrate the 15- and 20-year anniversaries of their albums. This year saw many tours from bands doing these types of shows throughout the year, but it was Chiodos coming back from an eight-year hiatus who wanted to end the year with the final celebratory tour. Celebrating 20 years of their debut album, All’s Well That Ends Well, their final stop took them to the House of Blues in Anaheim, CA. This show was not an original stop on the tour but was added after the fact, and fans could not be happier for one more chance to see the band. The House of Blues was sold out, and fans packed in like sardines for one more musical hurrah to end the year.

Opening the night was hometown legends who are starting to pick up major momentum, that being Big Ass Truck I.E. Hailing from just up the 91 Freeway in the Inland Empire of California, they were here to show the Orange County folks how they do it in Riverside. As soon as the vocalist took the mic, it was like Moses parting the Red Sea as a massive mosh pit pushed its way open in the packed house. Opening with “Corn-Fed,” Big Ass Truck I.E. started blasting the fans with beatdown riffs and hardcore movements that got the mosh pit circling with pure chaos. Vocalist Abel Abarca had unfortunately caught a cold, and though he tried singing the night before, this time he forwent pushing his voice and instead stuck to just playing bass. Instead, Big Ass Truck I.E. brought out crew members and friends throughout their set to help on vocal duty, giving fans a once-in-a-lifetime type show. Each guest vocalist brought their own aggression and power to the songs like “Back-Wheel Stomp,” “From the Grave,” “Beef,” “Big Ass Dog,” and “Big Ass Truck.” Bodies were only starting to come over the barricade as the crowd surfers warmed up for the carnage yet to come.

The next band to take the stage was Holywatr, who already played the House of Blues earlier this year when they opened for Architects. This time, being the second band allowed them to have a longer set, and even though it had only been four months since the last time I saw them, Holywatr performed with a whole new conviction of presence. Vocalist Patrick graced the stage with a more confident energy and was captivating in his performance. Patrick has a duality to him that flows between angelic melodies and heavenly clean vocals to a metal scream that electrifies the crowd. Guitarist ICEMVNE writes his guitar lines to sync up with the feeling of Patrick’s vocals, playing more clean and melodic rhythms to slapping on the distortion and driving the aggression when the song takes its turn. Where Big Ass Truck I.E. got the mosh pit frenzy started, Holywatr were the ones that wanted to see the crowd surfers. As bodies constantly tumbled ass over kettle over the barricade, the House of Blues security proved why they are some of the best, as they caught countless fans throughout the set. Holywatr kept this up for songs like “Lip Service,” “Hiding in Plain Sight,” “Mistake,” “Burn the Witch,” “Without U,” “Fade,” “For the Plot,” “Give Me a Show,” “Nail Polish,” and ending with “Loose Ends.” When I got a sip of Holywatr a few months ago, this second show got me to drink the whole goblet and see why fans are getting so riled up for this band.

It was then time to celebrate 20 years of All’s Well That Ends Well with Chiodos finally taking the stage. Starting their set off with the opening track “All Nereids Beware,” fans were eager to get up close and personal with vocalist Craig Owens. Where security thought they had their hands full during Holywatr, Chiodos proved that was nothing as even more bodies found their way swimming atop the crowds to crash like waves into the arms of security. Each fan sang with passion and love for the music we haven’t heard live in over eight years.

Though this was the last show of the tour and of the year for Chiodos, you could see that Craig Owens was still singing with love for his music, making sure fans got a quality end-of-the-year show. When Owens sings, you can feel him performing to the back of the room. You could feel the music resonating with all the fans, as the ones on the rail were headbanging so hard, you could see the barricade moving in place. Fans at the back of the house were charging the pit to try and get closer to the stage. This was the final show for most of the people in attendance, and they were going to get everything they could out of this experience. Chiodos gave us every song on the All’s Well That Ends Well album, but they did so in their own order instead of going front to back. This kept things interesting as you never knew which song was actually coming next.

Before the final song, “Baby, You Wouldn’t Last a Minute on the Creek,” Owens made a proclamation that if you’ve never crowd-surfed, he wants this song to be the moment you finally take the plunge. As fans took in every moment this song had to offer, security was catching more crowd surfers than I have ever seen at the House of Blues. Owens commanded it, and the fans obliged.

This was the last concert of many people’s 2025 concert-going experience, and what a way to send it off. It wasn’t just Chiodos coming back from hiatus to be a band again; it was a celebration of an album that many of us hold close to our hearts. From song titles that jokingly make no sense to the actual song, like “There’s No Penguins in Alaska” and “To Trixie and Reptile, Thanks for Everything,” the lyrics carry a powerful message that has stuck with fans for decades. This was also the first time many people got the chance to see Chiodos, and the band lived up to the hype many of us built in our heads. As the lights came back on and the music faded away, it was bittersweet. We all couldn’t have asked for a better end-of-the-year show, but now we had to wait until 2026 to see another show.

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