by Ashlyn Siples | July 11th , 2025

All images are from Elijah’s - Road to Rock Fest Tour Indianapolis, IN on 7/11/25.

Leading up to his performance at Rock Fest in Cadott, Wisconsin, Elijah made a few stops in the Midwest, treating fans to his first headlining dates ever. His stop at Turntable brought a packed house, excited to be inside with the air conditioning and away from the heat. Along for the ride came Downswing and Glasswaves, who kicked off an energetic night that captured just how diverse the metalcore genre can be.

Glasswaves may be a band that you have heard of recently, thanks to the fact that they secured enough votes to win the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands to open up Warped Tour in Washington, D.C. But if you haven’t heard of them yet, then let me take a chance to introduce them to you - you’ll want to have your eyes on them before they blow up into the mainstream. Hailing from Rochester, NY, Glasswaves is a metalcore band that uses heavy electronic influences to turn them into something unique to themselves in the scene.

Their stage setup builds on the tone they set with their music, using colorful backlighting and pulling the room into darkness between flashes of strobes. They’re all over the stage as well - dancing, interacting with each other, or at one point, both the bassist and guitarist dropped into simultaneous, very impressive backbends flat against the floor. It was a set that made you want to move, and I’m happy to say the rest of the room got the same vibes.

The hardest band of the night was Downswing from Albany, NY. With heavy, harsh vocals a constant staple in their music, you can tell they’re pushing the lines of metalcore and what you’d stereotypically categorize as metal. Their uniqueness to the lineup was even commented on by Elijah himself later in the night, mentioning how they’re a much heavier sound in comparison to his.

For those in the room who came to mosh, Downswing was their true chance to really get into it. The band encouraged it, and headbanged and jumped around plenty all on their own. In fact, the band almost went too hard, nearly knocking the riser off the stage and causing us up in the front row to come in and save it. The room was already warmed up to start with, but Downswing especially heated up the place.

Elijah is a solo artist whose career I’ve seen start to heavily pop off in the past year. Opening for Memphis Mayfire, I See Stars, and From Ashes To New over the past year has brought a lot of new people to his fanbase. He’s gone from playing shows in Indianapolis last year in a bar with maybe 10 people, as mentioned by Elijah himself onstage, to a packed room at a bigger venue at one of his first headlining shows within a year is proof that sticking through those starting times can lead to something great in the making.

Fans were certainly in for a treat with the setlist that night in Indianapolis. We were given not one, not two, but three playthroughs of unreleased songs - all of which were well received by the crowd. The setlist also featured “break me,” a song Elijah seemed particularly happy to get to play, as he noted he usually doesn’t have enough time to perform it. He also played his latest song, “how it starts,” as well as a couple of older deep cuts, which earned a shoutout to everyone in the crowd who knew the words.

The crowd was wild for his set, to say the least. Fans bounced between dancing and headbanging, back to the mosh pit, and back up to the front again. Elijah and his band were all over the place as well, especially guitarist Brandon Kyle. Elijah took plenty of time to go through the crowd, high-fiving everyone who wanted one, and giving a small encore before ending the night at the merch table to talk and take photos with everyone who stopped by.

Elijah’s short-lived tour ends at Rock Fest on July 17th, but if you happen to live in Australia, you’re in luck, as he’s touring there this fall with I See Stars, as well as a one-off date headlining in Tokyo, Japan, in October. Be sure to keep an eye on his social media, though. With the several unreleased songs and wide gap in his touring schedule, I wouldn’t be surprised if we heard from him soon.