Chicago, Illinois - February 11th, 2025

Last Tuesday, Split Chain brought their tour supporting Emo icons Silverstein on their “25 Years of Noise” tour to Chicago, performing to a sold out show of 1,500 attendees.

Hailing from Bristol, United Kingdom, this tour marks Split Chain’s first ever U.S appearance. Their sound is akin to the grunge revival that has been taking the internet by storm, with heavy distortion mixed with dreamy, spaced out chord progressions. Think bands like “Soul Blind” and “Static Dress”. Given that they are a fairly new project, with only a handful of singles released throughout 2023 and 2024, it was clear Split Chain was there to leave an impression on the new faces across the pond, and they couldn’t have made a better one. Within seconds of launching into the first song of the set - “Haven” - crowd-surfers began to spill over the barricade, the mosh pit was opened, and the band was brimming with energy.

Lead vocalist Roberto Martinez-Cowles called for the moshers and two-steppers to show up, very clearly feeding off Chicago’s warm welcome. He had even gone as far as to say Chicago had been the best audience on the tour so far, and it was evident. Between songs, I could hear people from the crowd screaming “I love Split Chain!” and “Yeah, Split Chain!”, showing that their set was more than just your average support act. It was built-up anticipation, the room was full well before Split Chain took the stage, there was undoubtedly a healthy section of that audience there to see Split Chain.

The band’s performance was nothing short of remarkable. They made the most of their 30-minute time slot, performing most of their current released discography with tracks like “Chalk”, and their latest single “I’m Not Dying To Be Here”, which was released just last month on Epitaph Records. With the grunge revival sound that has been all the rage on the internet lately, it’s easy for certain sounds to get lost in a live mix, or for bands to struggle to replicate the meticulously produced sounds from the record, but I had felt that this wasn’t the case for Split Chain. Their live sound had sounded just as punchy and full as the recorded tracks, and Martinez-Cowles had absolutely no trouble with recreating the visceral screams found all throughout their songs.

With everything being said, I was extremely impressed with Split Chain’s performance in Chicago, and I definitely wasn’t the only one who thought so as well. If you haven’t done so already, Split Chain is a band to keep your eye on this year, and although their tour with Silverstein is coming to an end in just a few days, be sure to catch them at their next show near you, no matter where they are on the bill, for they are not an act to miss live.