The Summer Of Loud tour took over Gallagher Square behind the outfield walls of Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres baseball team, in beautiful downtown San Diego, California on July 2, 2025. This show got started early at 2:00 PM on a Wednesday, but it is summertime, and there were quite a few people here as soon as the gates opened. A lot of them seem to be younger and definitely out of school for the summer, looking for something to do, still dressed in black despite the prospect of melting in the hot, hot sun. The downtown apartments and office buildings did offer shade at times, and the breeze coming off of the bay kept it cool enough for everyone to mosh and crowd surf throughout the event.
This venue is unique as it’s literally over the outfield wall of the baseball stadium. One section of the stadium was open to be able to sell traditional hotdogs, cracker jacks, and beer, and to provide restrooms. The park has a big cement area near the stage, standing room only, and then an Astroturf hill behind that with a big terrace on the top. There was even a handicap area with an ASL interpreter for concert guests with disabilities, including those who were hard of hearing.
This was a family-friendly crowd, even kids around 10 years old were able to crowd surf and enjoy themselves safely. All staff on hand were very helpful with any questions from attendees. There was a wide variety of vendors on hand with great souvenirs for concertgoers, and their staff was super friendly as well. There was plenty of room for all concertgoers. You could be in the dense crowd if you wanted or hang back where people were a bit more spread out.
The Summer Of Loud features one of the greatest collections of metalcore bands ever assembled. Parkway Drive, Alpha Wolf, and The Amity Affliction are representing Australia, while I Prevail, Killswitch Engage, Beartooth, The Devil Wears Prada and TX2 are American bands, each with their own take on the genre. Each and every band delivered great music and performances, and most commented on the spectacular venue and weather, as well as the intensity of the crowd. This venue offered a much larger pit area than the typical summer amphitheater and many artists took note of this, encouraging the crowd to use the space well and generate swirling vortexes of thrash energy.
The full lineup for Summer Of Loud 2025 in San Diego:
TX2 features Evan Thomas and a band of young kids with a lot of energy. They were very gracious, in continuously thanking all of the bands, inspiring them and allowing them to be on stage with them. They also went out of their way to thank the crowd for coming out early, commenting that it was the biggest 2 o’clock crowd they’d seen all tour.
This hard-core Band from Sydney Australia had a lot of energy. They have many circle pits going. It was a really good size crowd for still early in the afternoon on a Wednesday. They were very thankful as well to be here. Their fans were super excited to see them play live.
This is a great band which has a really good sound and excellent songs. They do play a lot of tracks for radio friendly effects, but the bass player does the clean singing and the lead singer does the dirty vocals. They are a mix of quiet and loud, alternating back-and-forth, which was a little hard for the crowd to get into but once again, there was a good pit going as the crowd is filling in in the middle of the afternoon.
TDWP got a great reaction from the jump, and people were thrilled for their performance. This was the last “opening” band of the day and as the sun began to set in the Pacific, it was time for the four co-headliners to heat things up.
Lead singer Caleb Shomo told their fans that the reason we’re all here is for you to have an hour where you can let go of anything that’s bothering you and just be free. Each of the four co-headliners definitely had their own crowd, and Beartooth had maybe the largest and most passionate, as quite a few of them left after they performed, but they were so happy to be there and singing along and dancing like crazy.
Killswitch Engage
Killswitch Engage had so many people singing along throughout their passionate set. There was a lot of crowd participation all over the venue, particularly when vocalist Jesse Leach jumped into the pit to get up close and personal with the fans. Guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz lives in San Diego and he thanked the locals, reminiscing about how many times he drank beer in the stadium cheering on the Padres. He booed Dodgers fans, telling them that not even their parents liked them, cracking up the crowd and even his own band. Killswitch Engage always has positive messages to share in their lyrics, and they are truly one of the greatest live bands you can ever see.
Parkway Drive
Parkway Drive arrived in America for this summer tour fresh off of the biggest show of their lives. They played at the legendary Sydney Opera House, with a full orchestra in support. The historical event, titled “HOME”, will be released as a live album and movie soon. They are one of the greatest metal bands ever, and their live shows are the talk of the scene. Their performance and stage show dominated this event. At one point, they took things down, as lead singer Winston McCall dedicated the somber “Darker Still” to Dave Shapiro, their friend and business partner, who put this whole summer tour together and died in a plane crash here in San Diego a few weeks ago. Link to story. They had everyone chanting along as they closed out the set with an amazing fire display.
I Prevail
I Prevail also did a nice tribute to Dave Shapiro. They had a lot of fire and they definitely had their fans. They were clearly fans here for each of the individual groups, but since they were last, there were quite a few that cleared out they also said it was the best show of the tour and had the biggest pit because most shows are in amphitheaters and this one had a much bigger GA floor for people to make multiple pits in throughout the day.
Follow I Prevail Online:
Follow Parkway Drive Online:
Follow Killswitch Engage Online:
Follow Beartooth Online:
Follow The Devil Wears Prada Online:
Follow The Amity Affliction Online:
Follow Alpha Wolf Online:
Follow TX2 Online:
Johnnie Crow is a lifelong music lover. He has photographed artists from every genre at concerts, festivals and cruises all across North America.
