Motion City Soundtrack hasn’t slowed down in the past year since releasing their latest album, The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World. Out in September of 2025, the record is the band’s first in a decade – following their 2016 breakup and 2019 reunion – and it carries the sound of a group that’s been through it all and made it back intact. Their crusade back to the top of the scene kicked off with an appearance on Warped Tour in 2025 and a massively successful co-headline run with Say Anything that stretched into 2026. Now the band is headed to Europe, but before darting across the ocean they stopped in Allentown at the Archer Music Hall for an intimate show.
Blasting through a 19-song set, Motion City Soundtrack leaned heavily on Wonderful World while still making time for deeper cuts like “Capital H” and “Particle Physics,” alongside the tried and true classics that first put them at the top of the scene back in the day – “The Future Freaks Me Out” and “My Favorite Accident.” The band quickly mentioned how excited they were to be back in Allentown; it had been years since they last played here, possibly going all the way back to when Crocodile Rock Cafe was the lone venue in town.
Even though they’d been up since 3 AM to make it to the venue on time, they showed no signs of fatigue – frontman Justin Pierre had more energy than he’s brought in years. Pierre has been on a long road back to peak performance after dealing with back and nerve issues from a 2023 injury, and each show since has been a step forward. At the Archer, he finally seemed back at 100%. The entire band had a tremendous joy in their step, and Pierre even jumped into the crowd – something, he later admitted, he truly never does but tonight felt special. He was right, it was.
Motion City Soundtrack Tour
