CHIODOS – 20 years of “All’s Well that Ends Well” – BBLV

December 18, 2025 – This year seemed to be a big hit when it comes to post hardcore. I’ve been able to see some of my most favorites, some of whom I hadn’t seen in so many years. This night wasn’t an exception in the slightest. CHIODOS made their return to Vegas for 20 years of their (arguably) most popular breakthrough record, “All’s Well that Ends Well.” (2005) This was the final leg of this tour, with earlier dates bringing on Hawthorne Heights and Emmure, but for the Vegas date, we got Holywatr and Big Ass Truck. A pretty stacked and energetic lineup, to say the least! And before I forget to mention it, this was another sold out show. And if you’ve ever been to Brooklyn Bowl for a sold out show… man, it is something else. 

Big Ass Truck

I literally had NO idea what I was getting into with Big Ass Truck. But BOY did the crowd know! Right out of the gate these guys packed a punch with their heavier hardcore/metal sound. Sometimes it takes a bit for the crowd to warm up to the openers…not this time around! Mosh pits and crowd surfers immediately, and this really set the tone for the evening because it did not let up at all for the rest of the night!

Holywatr

I really liked Holywatr. Another name that I wasn’t familiar with before, but have since followed on Instagram to keep up with the happenings. This band is a relatively new and fresh name on the scene, having gotten their start back in 2020. Sometimes I feel frustrated with myself for not always being able to keep up with some of these new bands, but if my life weren’t so crazy I would have likely found these guys sooner. They’re another one of those bands I could have latched onto in my younger days purely due to their specific blend of metalcore/post hardcore sounds. At any rate, I know who they are now and I hope I get to see them again, or maybe just get into one of their “girls pits!” Yeah, that’s a thing. 

Chiodos

I haven’t seen Chiodos since the Extreme Thing days. If you’re from Vegas or were here back in 2005-2012, ALL of these names making a huge comeback played this festival in the early days. I’m still attempting to find a photo that Fred Morledge took during either a Chiodos or D.R.U.G.S. set of me squished in a crowd while Craig engaged with us all. (I haven’t been able to find it, despite looking through his archives. Fuck you, MySpace for losing all our photos, I know I had it on there, haha.) 

I am going to shout out concertarchives.org because I definitely dug around all of Chiodos past tour dates to see if I forgot about any dates (I did) and I have to say… up until they stopped performing back in 2015-2018, they came to Vegas A LOT. So that’s cool. 

Chiodos have always had a really interesting contrast with sounds between their use of a keyboard, and of course the back and forth between clean and gutturals. 2005’s “All’s Well that Ends Well” was definitely a big deal back when it was released. Though it’s not their first full length record, it’s the one that helped push them into a whole scene of us kids that were hungry for the emotionally charged sound. 

I am always a bit blown away when I come to these shows that clearly lay out the importance of these records after so many years. So many young people in the crowd and I think it’s just a testament to how my generation has been raising their kids on post hardcore and metal, and all the other music that was so monumental to so many of us back in the early 2000’s. It really was a special time for music, and shows like this prove it. 

Chiodos hit the stage a bit later than they were supposed to, but that didn’t stop them from powering through all the big songs on “All’s Well that Ends Well,” plus two of the more popular songs from the following record, Bone Palace Ballet. And it wouldn’t be a Chiodos show without their finale, “Baby You Wouldn’t Last a Minute on the Creek”. Literally the entire set the whole crowd could be heard singing all these songs, and you could hear it when Craig Owens pulled the microphone away and let the crowd fill in. This was definitely an evening where I felt like I was transported back to 2005. (In a good way, of course. High school sucked for me.) 

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Before I wrap up this final review of 2025, I want to just tell you all a funny story that I’ve told a good handful of people about Chiodos. Yes, I found them back at the beginning. I had this record, which I imported to my computer so I could put it on my iPod. This was also the beginning of mp3 ringtones, but who the fuck wanted to pay for those? I didn’t. I had already run up my parent’s phone bill enough with all the texting. Anyway… I had this neat little LG CU500, I found a program to modify it. I plugged it into my dad’s computer, took all of the default sounds and images off of it and replaced them with photos and soundbites that I cut up myself. I had a minute long ringtone of the acoustic version of “Baby You Wouldn’t Last a Minute on the Creek.” This was also the beginning days of Bluetooth usage, and I sent that shit to all of my friends because I was so excited that I could send people fun stuff like that. 

I have a ton of ringtones that I handmade that have traveled with me through each of my phones for the last 20 years. And the Chiodos ones were the first ones I made. They’re still on the phone I use today. 

I also have to laugh at the fact that I told my dad about this show, and the first words out of his mouth were, “OH! I remember them, you’ve liked them forever.”

Yes, father. I have. I appreciate you remembering.

Enough of my storytelling and rambling. It’s been a fun year. Chiodos was the perfect way to wrap up for me, and who knows… maybe they’ll come back? That’d be cool. 

Until next time… 

PHOTO CREDIT: Live photos by Courtney Ware for ZRockR Magazine – (c) 2025 – All Rights Reserved.